Manufacturer Updates! Xpeng signs joint development agreement with Volkswagen!

On July 22, according to Xpeng, Xpeng and Volkswagen jointly announced that they have signed a strategic cooperation agreement on electronic and electrical architecture technology and will fully invest in developing the industry-leading electronic and electrical architecture for the CMP and MEB platforms produced by Volkswagen in China.

In the strategic cooperation of electronic and electrical architecture technology, Xpeng and Volkswagen have established a joint development project group in Guangzhou and Hefei, China. Through close technical cooperation of the joint development project group, the first model equipped with the electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by both parties is expected to be mass-produced within 24 months.

In addition, according to the joint development agreement, Xpeng and Volkswagen will actively explore further cooperation opportunities to expand the application range of the electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by both parties. And both parties reached consensus on promoting strategic cooperation in electronic and electrical architecture and hope to further strengthen strategic partnership through this.

He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of Xpeng, said that the cooperation in electronic and electrical architecture is the third important milestone in the long-term strategic partnership between the two parties within a year. He is very looking forward to expanding the scope of technical cooperation and deepening the win-win strategic partnership.

Ralf Brandstaetter, Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen (China), said that Volkswagen's digital process will further accelerate. Starting from 2026, all pure electric models of the domestically produced Volkswagen car brand (including models developed based on CMP and MEB platforms) will be equipped with the new CEA electronic and electrical architecture.

The cooperation between Xpeng and Volkswagen has long been traceable. On April 17, Brandstaetter publicly announced that Xpeng and Volkswagen have launched a new CEA electronic and electrical architecture, and plan to put it into production from 2026 for domestically produced Volkswagen car brand electric models.

Recently, it has been reported that Volkswagen may abandon the MEB platform and fully turn to CEA. The authenticity of this news is yet to be verified, but the development of Volkswagen's own new SSP platform is not smooth due to software development problems, and its development plan has been repeatedly postponed.

Just last week on July 19, there was news that hundreds of Volkswagen engineers have already moved into the headquarters of Xpeng in Guangzhou, which implies a comprehensive upgrade in the technological cooperation between Volkswagen and Xpeng. Insiders stated that "the breadth of both sides' coverage is enormous, and the degree of collaboration is unprecedented".

According to Brandstaetter, the advantage of the CEA platform is that the number of control units in a single car will be significantly reduced by 30%, which significantly reduces the complexity of the operating system and provides a major boost in user experience in terms of software function updates and digital services. Complex functions such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can be integrated into the architecture more quickly and conveniently. In addition, in terms of price, Volkswagen's products will also be more competitive, creating greater value for customers.