Changchun City, FAW Group, Audi Join Hands for Strategic Cooperation in NEV

Updated : 2021-01-26Source : CCFAO
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In the new era, a new result has been made in the economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany in Changchun City. 

FAW Group, Audi and Changchun City signed an agreement online Monday morning on January 18, 2021. The three parties have agreed upon the settlement of FAW-Audi New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Project in Changchun City.  

This is the largest project invested by Germany in China after the signing of the “China-EU Investment Agreement”. It is also a landmark project marking a new level for the 30-year friendly partnership between FAW Group of China and Volkswagen of Germany. 

As commented by Dr. Clemens von Goetze, Ambassador of Germany to China, the project is another achievement in the strong economic cooperation between China and Germany. It is also a superb model for the transformation of changing market conditions into new development opportunities by the enterprises of the two countries. 

The settlement of the project in Changchun is a major initiative to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of two countries and a practical action to implement the important speeches and instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his inspection trip to Jilin, which is of great significance to further deepening China-Germany trade, speeding up the construction of Changchun International Automobile Town, promoting the high-quality development of local automobile industry , and accelerating the revitalization of Jilin Province in the new era. 

It’s been planned that PPE, a premium platform electric platform, will be ushered in for the project. The first factory is planned to be invested with more than RMB30 billion, and the first model will be put into production in 2024. Why Changchun was selected as destination for such a big project that had attracted the attention of automobile industry around the world? The reasons include not only the historical opportunity brought about by the deepening of cooperation between China and Germany in the new era and the great attractiveness of China’s early economic recovery and leading position in the major economies around the world but also the high-profile promotions by the authorities at national, provincial and municipal levels and the “natural success” in such aspects as strategic expectation and industrial foundation of Changchun City.  

At the best of times—achievements of China-Germany economic and trade cooperation transformed into a major facilitator for the construction of a world class automobile industry base 

In March 2020, Changchun City and Jilin Province proposed in a creative way and from a global perspective to build Changchun International Automobile Town totaling 471 square kilometers as a world-class automobile industry base with an economic scale of RMB1 trillion. 

In this period, Audi just released its core layout of electrification for the next 10 years according to which NEV production would be deployed in China. 

It’s the right time for the two strategies to meet to be right best pair. Changchun International Automobile Town became the preferred place for Audi’s new energy project in China. 

At the time when China made a preliminary victory in the fight against the pandemic the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries were being promoted and implemented. 

Jilin took it as a major strategic part for an all-round, comprehensive revitalization in the new era, with a team led by the Secretary of the CPC Jilin Provincial Party Committee and the Governor of Jilin Province established to facilitate the settlement of the project in Changchun City. 

Great attention and strong care were provided by all sides involved including the CPC Jilin Provincial Committee, the People Government of Jilin Province, the CPC Changchun Municipal Committee, the People’s Government of Changchun City, FAW Group, VW and Audi. The team consisting of the officials of the CPC Jilin Provincial Committee went to Beijing several times for making reports to and asking for more preferential policies at national level from such authorities as development and reform, industry and information technology. 

Wang Kai, Secretary of the CPC Changchun Municipal Committee, and Zhang Zhijun, Mayor of Changchun City, had in-depth talks and fruitful communications with the chief executive officers during their visits to the headquarters of Volkswagen China and Audi China.  

On September 3, 2020, the delegation of the headquarters of Audi China visited Changchun. The first friendly and sincere meeting of the two sides laid a good foundation for the advancement of the project. 

In the next 100 days, the teams of the two sides held several rounds of negotiations, face to face or online, and reached a preliminary consensus on the settlement of the project. 

At the China-Germany Auto Conference on October 13, 2020, Qiu Xiandong, General Manager of FAW Group, and his counterpart of Auto China signed a memorandum of understanding. 

The two countries agreed upon new cooperation, giving a prominent position for the new energy project between FAW and Audi. In addition to the effort made by the officials of such departments at provincial level as reform and development, natural resources, industry and information technology and commerce asking for more incentives in visiting Beijing for more preferential policies, 27 departments and bureaus of Jilin Province promised determinations, abilities and conditions to ensure the settlement of project. 

On December 8, 2020, the delegation of Audi China visited Changchun again. The two sides reached the final round of consensus which led to the start of settlement for which FAW Group and competent departments set up several preparation teams. 

The settlement of the project will effectively promote the construction of Changchun International Automobile Town and Changchun Modern Metropolitan Area scheduled for the “14th Five-Year Plan. 

At the best of geographical conditions—Changchun International Automobile Town embraces high-quality development projects 

It is undeniable that the settlement of the project is the result of a full release of comparative advantages of Changchun City. 

Changchun, cradle of automobile industry of China and home to FAW Group, has been engaged in developing automobile industry for nearly 70 years and formed an automotive cluster with an industrial scale of nearly RMB1 trillion, making it one of the largest automobile industry bases with the most competitive research and development capacity and the most development elements in China. 

A productivity of 3 million cars—Within a radius of 20 km there are 5 factories for FAW Hongqi, FAW Jiefang, FAW Car, FAW Volkswagen and FAW Fengyue and seven automobile brands with obvious advantages of industrial congregation. 

A total of more than 3,000 auto parts enterprises—Within a radius of 100 kilometers there are more than 3,000 enterprises with exceptional capacities of supplying such auto parts as engine, auto electronics, transmission, chassis and car body. 

Strongest research and development in China—Changchun boasts of rich research and development resources including Automobile College of Jilin University and FAW Technology Center, the earliest and the strongest of its kind in China, and hundreds of research institutes and enterprise technology centers. 

There are also more than 100,000 skilled workers, nearly 1,000 entrepreneurs and managerial experts and more than 20 associations that have formed a complete system of research and development, supply of auto parts and talents, making the city a heavyweight player of production, research and development in China and even around the world. 

It has gradually become a common sense in the field that Changchun has advantages in industrial development for automobile industry. 

A list of strategic investors including Volkswagen, Toyota, Huawei, Alibaba, Linglong Tire, DESAYSV, Shenshang Holdings Group with 49 projects invested with more than RMB1 billion each and more than 100 projects invested with more than RMB100 million each, totaling more than RMB100 billion, were attracted to Changchun International Automobile Town right after its construction was started.  

Such favorable geographical advantages became a key factor for the settlement of the project in Changchun City. 

At the best of people-to-people conditions—Many years of friendly and mutual-trust relations have added a “unique landscape” to Changchun International Automobile Town.  

“FAW is Audi’s most reliable and important strategic partner in China. The introduction of PPE platform is an important practice for sustainable opening up and cooperation between the two sides. The partnership between FAW and Audi started in Changchun. The past 30 years has also witnessed the success in cooperation between FAW and Audi,” Qiu Xiandong was quoted as saying.  

Changchun is home to China FAW as a strategic partner for Audi. From 1988 when the technology “Audi 100” was transferred to 2020 in which 726,300 cars were sold in China, an increase of 5.4% against the trend of market recession, FAW and Audi have been cooperating and growing together.  

There is also an environment rich and fertile for development in Changchun City—From the start of industrial projects right after land acquisition to the “fully furnished” incentives, the business environment in the city has been constantly optimized. At the signing ceremony of FAW-Audi NEV project, Xu Liuping, President of FAW Group, made a presentation about the development environment of Changchun City and Jilin Province, saying, “The outstanding achievements made by FAW and its partners can best demonstrate the fact that Changchun City and Jilin Province have now become popular destinations for innovation, creation and entrepreneurship.” 

Changchun is a provider of best service. In 2020, FAW-VW extended two letters of thanks to Changchun Auto Industry Development Zone for its great assistance to pandemic control and prevention, resumption of work and production, and service for foreign employees. 

2020 witnessed the best achievement Changchun International Auto Town could make—FAW ranked the first on an international scale, with 3.71 million cars sold, a surge of 7.3% year on year. The GDP of Changchun City was estimated to grow by 3.5%, ranking the first among the four cities in Northeast China or in a leading position among the 15 sub-provincial cities nationwide. 

Up to now, Changchun has raised nearly RMB6 billion to kick-start the project. It only took 13 days for land acquisition from more than 400 families in Changchun Auto Industry Development Zone, a new record in the history of high-quality development in the zone which in turn laid a solid foundation for the early start of the project. 

For the future, FAW-Audi NEV project is said to be in collaboration with its counterparts such as FAW Hongqi New Energy and FAW Fengyue PHEV to build up a “Matrix in Changchun” for the industry of NEV of China and even the world, thereby promoting the optimization of automobile industry of Changchun City, and speeding up the construction of Changchun International Automobile Town as a world-class automobile industry base.