Volkswagen celebrates 20 years of partnership with FAW in China

Volkswagen celebrates 20 years of partnership with FAW in China

• More than 15,000 skilled jobs created in two decades
• Winterkorn: Further growth in “second home of China” expected

WOLFSBURG / CHANGCHUN : August 26, 2011 - One of the Chinese automotive industry’s success stories began twenty years ago: In 1991, Volkswagen and First Automotive Works (FAW) set up the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. Some 4,500 guests celebrated the joint venture’s 20th anniversary yesterday evening at a ceremony in Changchun. FAW-Volkswagen is currently one of China’s largest automobile manufacturers and has built five million vehicles since operations began. The anniversary vehicle, a “New Magotan”, left the assembly line in Changchun this week. The company expects annual production to top the one million mark for the first time this year.

At the ceremony in Changchun Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, looked back on 20 exciting and successful years of cooperation. The FAW-Volkswagen joint venture is today one of the largest and most innovative car manufacturers in China. "Together with our partner FAW we have played a decisive role in shaping mobility in China and created more than 15,000 jobs," Winterkorn said. "Alongside our strong partners we are aiming to grow further in our second home of China and to create new jobs. We have laid the right foundations with targeted investments of €10.6 billion in capacity expansion and innovative and emotional vehicles."

The People’s Republic of China has been the Group’s largest sales market since 2009, FAW-Volkswagen is a leading manufacturer in the country’s automobile industry. The company produces Volkswagen and Audi brand vehicles as well as parts and components at its plants in Changchun, Chengdu and Dalian. With an ever-growing model range that today includes vehicles such as the Golf or the long-wheelbase Audi A6, FAW-Volkswagen is targeting annual production in excess of one million units for the first time in 2011.

Apart from the joint venture with FAW, Volkswagen also operates a second joint venture in cooperation with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). In total, the Group with its Volkswagen, Audi and Škoda brands employs over 40,000 people at its production sites in China and is aiming to sell more than two million vehicles for the first time this year.

FAW-Volkswagen: Key facts

• 1988: Start of cooperation with First Automobile Works (FAW) in China Licensed production of Audi 100 begins
• 1991: "FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Company Ltd." founded in Changchun, Changchun plant built
• 1995: AUDI AG incorporated into FAW-Volkswagen as the third shareholder
• 1996: FAW-Volkswagen Sales Company founded
• 2004: FAW-Volkswagen’s second plant opened in Chengdu, "Volkswagen FAW Platform Company Ltd." and "FAW Engine (Dalian) Company Ltd." founded
• 2007: Volkswagen FAW Engine in Dalian begins production
• 2011: Capacity expansion at FAW-Volkswagen in Chengdu begins
• 2011: Construction of a new FAW-Volkswagen plant in Foshan gets underway

[Source : VOLKSWAGEN]