Volkswagen AG has said it plans to acquire by the end of the year a majority stake in JAC-Volkswagen, one of its Chinese vehicle manufacturing joint ventures, according to local reports.
The German automaker is reported to have agreed to acquire state-owned Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holding's 50% shareholding in the JAC-Volkswagen joint venture in a deal expected to be worth EUR1bn.
The acquisition would increase Volkswagen's stake in the JAC-Volkswagen joint venture to 75%, making it one of the very few foreign automakers to own a majority stake in a Chinese vehicle manufacturing plant. Tesla owns its newly-opened car plant located just outside Shanghai, while BMW in 2018 signed an agreement to buy a majority stake in a joint venture with its local partner Brilliance Auto.
In October 2018, BMW inked a deal with its partner Brilliance Auto to become the first international carmaker to acquire a majority stake in its Chinese car-making joint venture.
JAC-Volkswagen is the smallest of the three main vehicle manufacturing partnerships it has in China, focused mainly on producing mainly electric vehicles. The other major joint ventures are FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen, which together produced over four million vehicles last year.
The German automaker said it will introduce new low and zero-emission models under the Volkswagen brand at the JAC-Volkswagen joint venture and expand it production capacity to up to 400,000 units per year by 2029.
Volkswagen said is aims to sell a total of 1.5 million new energy vehicles per year in China by 2025, produced across all joint ventures.
Volkswagen is also reported to have completed the acquisition of a 26.5% stake in its Chinese EV battery maker Guoxuan High-Tech Companythis week in a deal understood to be worth EUR1.1bn.
