Volkswagen AG has completed the acquisition of an additional 25% stake in its Chinese electric vehicle (EV) joint venture JAC Volkswagen Automotive Company, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange by its Chinese partner Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAC Motors).
The joint venture, based in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province, was established in December 2017 with Volkswagen and JAC each holding 50% of the equity.
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VW plans to acquire an additional 25% stake in the joint venture at a cost of CNY1.6bn (US$245m), according to JAC Motors, originally came to light last May.
The purchase takes Volkswagen’s stake in the joint venture to 75%, making the German company the second foreign automaker to own a majority stake in a Chinese vehicle manufacturing company after Tesla’s wholly owned Shanghai plant. In 2018 China announced it would phase out foreign equity limits in vehicle manufacturing joint ventures, starting with new energy vehicle operations.
The joint venture’s name has also been changed from JAC Volkswagen to Volkswagen Anhui. It will become central to Volkswagen’s electrification programme in China although the company said it would not compete head on with its other Chinese joint ventures with SAIC Motor and FAW Group.
In June Volkswagen China agreed to acquire a 26.5% stake in China’s third largest EV battery manufacturer, Hefei Guoxuan High Tech Power Energy Company, also known as Gotion, to become the company’s largest shareholder.
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By GlobalDataAround 40% of Volkswagen’s group sales are generated in China, making it the company’s largest single market and largest manufacturing location worldwide.
