Xpeng CEO says joint models with VW moving at full speed

CEO said he visited Volkswagen's German headquarters at the end of September, and the teams from both companies are moving full speed ahead with the development of their collaborative models like a startup team. (He Xiaopeng (fourth from the left) , chairman and CEO of Xpeng and his team pose with Volkswagen executives.) He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), recently visited Volkswagen's headquarters in Germany, as the companies push ahead with the development of models the two are working on together. "I visited Volkswagen Group's Wolfsburg headquarters at the end of September to meet up with our good friends Oliver, Ralf and Stefan," Mr. He wrote on Weibo today. Oliver is Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume, Ralf is Volkswagen Group China CEO Ralf Brandstaetter, and Stefan is Volkswagen China Passenger Cars Brand CEO Stefan Mecha. "I deeply admire Volkswagen's competence in product and engineering design as well as large-scale manufacturing, and I am confident and more imaginative about how we can work together in the future in a complementary and win-win way in the long term," he wrote. Over the past few months, the joint development of Xpeng and Volkswagen's joint models has accelerated, with both technical teams moving at full speed like a startup team, according to Mr. He. On July 26, the two companies that Volkswagen would invest about $700 million to acquire about 4.99 percent of Xpeng, and that the two plan to co-develop two Volkswagen-branded EV models for China's mid-size car market. The two new vehicles will complement Volkswagen's MEB platform-based portfolio and are scheduled to go to market in 2026. Xpeng's strategic partnership with Volkswagen in the supply chain will bring the potential for cost reductions for both companies, Mr. He wrote on Weibo today. He said he discussed with Volkswagen executives the development of electrification and smart technologies in the coming years, and their views coincide and the blueprint for long-term cooperation on technology is clearer. When it comes to internationalization, Volkswagen has many great capabilities and experiences for Xpeng to learn from, he said.