Volkswagen Group plans to invest $700 million in Xpeng and jointly develop electric vehicles in China as the German automaker fights to halt a sales slide in its most important market.
VW Group will eventually hold a 4.99 percent stake in the Chinese EV maker via a capital increase and is getting an observer board seat, VW said in a statement on Wednesday.
VW Group and Xpeng will develop two battery-powered midsize EVs for the VW brand based on Xpeng's G9 'Edward' platform. The cars will be rolled out in China starting in 2026.
"The partnership gives us a great opportunity to develop a product offering tailored for Chinese customers from China for China," VW Group CEO Oliver Blume said on VW's earnings call on Thursday.
"We want to fill white spots on our product map. To do this, we will select our best technologies and combine them with the right platforms," he said. The jointly developed cars will have a VW design, drive like a VW and feel like a VW, Blume said.
"We will determine the technical details in the coming weeks," he said.