German automaker Volkswagen AG (VW) yesterday said that it has agreed to invest 2.1 billion euros (US$2.59 billion) in two separate Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) players, upping its bet on the world’s biggest auto market as international rivals seek to muscle in.
VW said that it would invest 1 billion euros to take a 50 percent stake in the state-owned parent of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC Motors, 安徽江淮汽車集團), also raising its stake in an existing EV joint venture with JAC Motors to 75 percent from 50 percent.
The joint venture would launch five more electric models by 2025 and establish a vehicle manufacturing base, VW said.
The German giant aims to sell 1.5 million new energy vehicles (NEV) — including battery EVs, as well as plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles — a year in China by 2025.
In a separate transaction, VW said that it would pay 1.1 billion euros to acquire 26.5 percent of Guoxuan High-tech Co Ltd (固特高科技有限公司), a maker of EV batteries, becoming its biggest shareholder.
Guoxuan — based in Hefei, China, like JAC Motors — would supply batteries to its EV models in China, VW said.
The deals come as global rivals such as US EV maker Tesla Inc seek to make inroads in the Chinese vehicle market. Tesla last year became the first foreign automaker to wholly own a vehicle plant in China.
China has set a target of 25 percent of 2025 annual vehicle sales to be made up of NEVs. More than 25 million vehicles were sold in China last year.
Yesterday’s moves also make VW the latest foreign automaker to increase ownership of operations in China since the government started to relax rules in 2018, with German peer BMW AG quick to take control of its main local venture.
VW also has ventures with state-owned China FAW Group Co Ltd (一汽富維) and SAIC Motor Corp Ltd (上海汽車).
Shares in both JAC Motors and Guoxuan yesterday morning climbed their maximum daily limit of 10 percent in Shanghai trading.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS