Volkswagen Baird: The R&D cycle of establishing a wholly-owned technology subsidiary in China will be shortened by about 30%.

Easy Car News During the Shanghai Auto Show, Baird, Chairman and CEO of Audi AG (China), accepted an interview with Easy Car. Bered said: "In order to enhance the local R&D capability of Audi AG, it will invest about 654.38 billion euros to set up a technology subsidiary wholly owned by Audi AG (China). This company, now called 100%TechCo, located in Hefei, plans to recruit more than 200 engineers. The company will be fully operational in early 2024.

Bered, Chairman and CEO of Audi AG (China)

100%TechCo focuses on intelligent networked vehicles, and there will be R&D teams for complete vehicles, R&D for parts, purchasing teams, and experts in software development and integration. The localization rate of Audi ag in China has exceeded 90%, and it is made in China to establish a local supply chain. Now, R&D will also be localized, so that more decisions can be made locally.

Why is it called 100%TechCo? Bered said that in English, it fully reflects our investment and the wholly-owned nature of the company. The company will also cooperate more closely with Volkswagen Anhui. 100%TechCo's first project will serve the development of Volkswagen's first model based on MEB platform, and the company's business will expand to other models in the future. 100%TechCo will have a more streamlined and centralized organizational process. Centralized procurement enables local suppliers to enter the development process at the early stage of research and development. This will accelerate our integration into China's innovation system, make us closer to the China market and understand the needs of a new generation of consumers. Through further localization, we can better compete with the China market on the same frequency.

100%TechCo can shorten our R&D cycle by about 30%, which will be a very significant progress and leap, and also contribute to our strategic development and transformation in China and China. With 100% TechCo, the competitive advantage accumulated in the fuel vehicle era can be extended to the electric vehicle era.

In addition, when it comes to models, the first model of Volkswagen Anhui will be exported and mass-produced in September this year. This will be a model of Cupra brand. Next, Volkswagen brand models in China market will follow closely.

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