Through the completion of the Foshan Plant Phase II, Volkswagen Group’s Foshan production site’s capacity will double from 300,000 to 600,000 cars annually. The first SUV-model of the Volkswagen brand built by FAW-Volkswagen—the T-Roc—successfully rolled off the line in April this year. Together with the Audi Q2L, which will also start production this year, T-Roc is a vital building block in the fast growing SUV segment in China.

Moreover, among the new FAW-Volkswagen factories in Qingdao and Tianjin, Foshan will play a key part in the Group’s Roadmap E strategy. Vehicles currently produced on the MQB platform will soon be electrified. By 2020, the MEB architecture will be introduced to the production line, alongside the production of MEB battery systems, which will also be located in Foshan. The newest electric models with the latest technologies of Volkswagen and Audi will be produced at the Foshan Plant.

Through this mega-factory at the South China base of FAW-Volkswagen, we are fulfilling our promise to electrify China. Foshan is an important milestone on the way to becoming a people-centric provider of sustainable mobility.

—Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China

Through Roadmap E, the Volkswagen Group aims to release 40 new locally produced NEVs in the next 7 or 8 years, as it prepares to deliver up to 1.5 million NEVs annually by 2025.

The Foshan Plant Phase II will be an ideal representation of green, energy-saving production, intelligent manufacturing and smart operations. Through a complete purification and recycling system, the plant achieves zero emission of pollutants.

Clarification of Group structure and regional roles. The Volkswagen Group is pushing ahead with the structural realignment of its organization. In future, one lead brand will assume steering responsibility for a clearly defined region of the world across the Group.

• The Volkswagen brand will assume responsibility for North America, South America and the Sub-Saharan region.

• SEAT will be responsible for the growing market in North Africa.

• Audi will coordinate the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region except China.

• Responsibility for China will be retained by the Group.

• ŠKODA is to be responsible for the markets of Russia and India and is to sustainably strengthen the market position of the Group in the growing market of India with the “INDIA 2.0” project and the related model offensive of the Volkswagen and ŠKODA brands. Preparations for the local development and production of the new, technically groundbreaking volume models are already well underway.

The objective of assigning responsibility for the regions is to tailor the model range to the relevant market requirements and customers’ needs rapidly and effectively on the basis of regional knowledge and competences and through intensive cooperation with local partners. In future, the regional lead brand will be tasked with synchronizing the Group strategy for its region in liaison with the brands in the region, as well as coordinating brand activities, partnerships and the exploitation of synergy effects.