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By Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirouzu
BEIJING (Reuters) – The German automaker Volkswagen AG's joint venture with Chinese Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co (JAC) plans to invest 5.06 billion yuan (582.69 million yuan) in a new car factory electric located in the east of Hefei City, according to local authorities.
A document posted by the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone on Monday showed that Volkswagen and JAC had obtained permission from environmental authorities to build a plant capable of producing 100,000 fully electric battery-powered cars a year.
Volkswagen Group China confirmed on Thursday the figures that appeared in the previous official documents and announced that JAC-Volkswagen will launch soon its first model.
A spokesman for the joint venture confirmed the plant's plans, saying that this approval represented a "methodical advancement of the project" and that the company's first electric model, the E20X, would be launched this year .
GREEN
The German company, the largest Chinese automaker with sales of 4.31 million cars on the continent and Hong Kong in 2018, is committed to increasing the production of zero-emission vehicles as part of its strategy. of growth in the country.
Volkswagen has announced plans to produce more than 22 million electric cars in the next 10 years, including more than half in China. It plans to launch 14 new energy vehicle models in China this year.
The JV joint venture with JAC, approved in 2017, had announced last year the establishment of a research and development center. It was also planned to introduce the SEAT brand in China by 2020-2021.
Reuters announced this month that Volkswagen is in talks with South Korean battery manufacturer SK Innovation to accelerate the development of electric vehicles.
The Chinese car market, the largest in the world, was contracted for the first time last year since the 1990s. However, the new energy vehicle segment continues to grow rapidly and vehicle sales Electrical, electrical and electronic (NEV) units jumped 61.7% to 1.3 million units in 2018.
The China Automobile Manufacturers Association said new energy vehicle sales could reach 1.6 million units this year. Volkswagen has started building a new 2.5 billion dollar energy vehicle plant in Shanghai with SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, which will produce Volkswagen AG's luxury Audi AG cars.
SAIC Volkswagen said the new plant would have an annual capacity of 300,000 cars and start production from 2020.
(Report by Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing, edited by Christopher Cushing and Darren Schuettler)
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