Dr. Feng Sihan: Good morning, old friends! Welcome to the first media discussion in 2022.
At the beginning of the new year, I think the most important thing is to communicate with media friends about business development, but this year's situation may not be the same as before, I believe you have got some industry data. 2021 has been a tough year for us. A year ago we talked about the impact of the epidemic and our business was impacted, but we are still very shocked that China has controlled the epidemic in a very short period of time, and the Chinese economy has shown resilience and strong potential for development. So, in 2020 we can still see the fundamentals that can boost our business.
For Volkswagen, in addition to the new crown, there is also a "virus" impact, which may be more serious than the epidemic, that is, the global shortage of semiconductor chip supply. We are already familiar with this topic, and some of our key suppliers have not been able to deliver the semiconductor chips we need in sufficient quantities in a timely manner, which has greatly affected our production. Overall, we believe that in addition to the epidemic, the lack of cores has put a lot of constraints on us, and 2021 and 2022 have a very big impact, which means that we have no way to deliver enough cars to meet the high demand of our customers. Our deliveries are down 14% year-over-year, and despite this, we delivered 3.3 million vehicles to our customers in 2021. Relative to the whole year, the development in the first half of the year is still relatively strong, allowing us to achieve about 16% market share.
Overall, the sales in the first half of 2021 are still good, and the sales volume and market share have maintained a normal trajectory and developed channels. However, in the second half of the year, it continued to be affected by the shortage of chip supply. From the perspective of the group, the performance of different brands is not the same, and the luxury and high-end brands perform very well. Porsche achieved historic year-end sales of nearly 95,000 units. Lamborghini and Bentley also achieved new sales records, achieving sales of 3916 units and 861 units, the two brands sold about 1500 units higher than the total sales in 2020, and the sales of the Sanlitun flagship store have increased significantly compared with 2020. Audi delivered a total of 700,100 units, similar to the level of deliveries in 2020, but down 3.6 percent to be precise, as it was also affected by a shortage of chip supplies. Overall Year-on-year deliveries of the Group fell by 16%, but Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini achieved new sales record gains, which generally rose and fell.
MQB models of brands such as Skoda have also been greatly affected by the shortage of chips. We are pleased that the young sub-brand Jetta has sold nearly 170,000 units, 169,000 units, and it has also made the Jetta the only volume product brand to achieve positive growth. We use MQB to share the same stage, and then some key components to achieve local solutions to upgrade, so that these components and local solutions are combined, for example: Jetta's steering technology is from a Chinese supplier, its technology and other countries' technology is not the same. Therefore, jetta can still maintain relatively good flexibility under the impact of the epidemic and is welcomed by local consumers. At the same time, Jetta's sales in third- to fifth-tier cities are rising, which means that compared with 2020, its sales growth rate has reached nearly 14,000 units.
The Group's overall sales delivered 3.3 million vehicles, still proving that Volkswagen is the number one automaker in the minds of consumers. Judging from the data we have so far, there are still many market needs to be stimulated.
The shortage of semiconductor chips has had a global impact, and at the recent CES (International Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, there was also a discussion about how to solve the chip shortage problem and the latest chip design problems. At the same time, some special circumstances related to China have also had an impact, such as a fire at Renesas, a Japanese supplier, which caused delivery delays, and because the epidemic hit Malaysia closed its chip factory, they could not meet the requirements of production during the epidemic, so there was a delay and cancellation in delivery. These are all issues and impacts that are directly related to the Chinese market. These effects will still exist in 2022.
At the same time, there are some reasons for the shortage of local supply in China, such as the outbreak of a new round of COVID-19 in Ningbo in the past few weeks, which is an important base for our automobile production and automobile supply. The outbreak in Ningbo will obviously affect the performance of our overall delivery. In addition, Tianjin will also be affected, Tianjin has recently been affected by the Olmi kerong strain, and the supply has also begun to be affected by a series of influences. Therefore, we can see that this series of events has occurred, some of which have occurred at the global level and some at the Chinese level, which has greatly affected the normal supply of chips.
As you can see, this is the flagship store of ID. We have successfully realized the transformation of electrification, from the traditional fuel vehicle to electric vehicles, pure electric direction, pure electric strategy or electrification strategy in the Volkswagen Group since the implementation of the public group has received wide attention from everyone. Our ID. sales were a success and we are very pleased with the results of id.'s sales.
In the ID. sales process, special thanks to the efforts of the sales team. ID. has aroused good response among consumers, and we have achieved very good results in the collision experiment, and we have also obtained the "collision excellence" score of China Insurance Research Institute. Towards the end of the year, id.4 also received the honor of "Eco Car of the Year" and was also named "World Car of the Year". All these achievements also show that ID. represents Volkswagen's product capabilities, which embodies everyday ease of use and upholds the quality and safety that we have always attached to it.
As I mentioned earlier, we have tested 6 million kilometers of global roads and invested thousands of prototypes to test them. Such rigorous testing and quality control has also been verified and supported by independent sources of information, let us see that the momentum of the sales of ID. is very good, we hope that the sales of ID. last year reached 80,000-100,000 units, due to the shortage of global chips, in the last few weeks of December due to the epidemic in Ningbo, we produced a few thousand less, and by the end of the year our inventory was very tight, and the final sales volume was more than 70,000 units. In January, we were still affected by the lack of cores, and we followed closely with our colleagues at headquarters every day, hoping to receive more support so that our potential production capacity could be fully utilized.
On the other hand, our SUV lineup is further expanded. Nine new SUVs were launched last year, and 1.2 million SUVs were delivered. By this year, we will have a complete lineup of SUVs at least in terms of fuel vehicles, that is, new SUVs will be launched this year, most likely during the Beijing Auto Show, when SUV models will cover all market segments, and the strategy we have previously formulated is being implemented step by step. In the past year, ten new energy vehicles have been launched, including plug-in hybrid models, and our sales of new energy vehicles have doubled, and the sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles of up to 15,000 units have also played a very important role in reducing overall emissions.
Our pure electric vehicle sales momentum also showed a strong upward momentum. We have brought five ID cars to the Chinese market, and this year we will wait and see how we will further expand the ID. family. Judging from the market trend, the next pure electric model will be more and more close to the car form of the product launch.
We attach great importance to promoting the development of Volkswagen (Anhui). Volkswagen (Anhui) was originally our third joint venture and plays an important role in our new energy vehicle strategy, and their MEB plant has been built and is making very good progress. Our colleagues at the German headquarters always compare the progress of Volkswagen (Anhui) with the progress of Tesla's Berlin factory. We are making rapid progress in building a factory in Anhui, and the construction will start in April 2021, part of which is new construction, and the other part is the reconstruction of the old factory, both of which are both. We took three months to process the equivalent of 40,000 truckloads of earthworks in preparation for the construction and start of construction of the Volkswagen plant in Anhui. By this summer, Volkswagen's (Anhui) plant will be ready to go into operation. The first two cars they put into production are brand new models, and further development work is needed to make this model more mature, which will take another year for the mass production car to come out.
Our ecosystem of new energy vehicles and pure electric vehicles is very complete, and Guoxuan Hi-Tech, headquartered in Hefei, is also an important part, and next to the Volkswagen (Anhui) MEB factory is the production line of the battery system. At the same time, we have further expanded and enriched our R&D deployment and strength in China. We firmly believe that the work done in China, the next step of launching products in China will also attract more and more global customers, that is, in China to the world. By 2025, we will upgrade the smart interconnection function on the existing platform, and at the same time launch the L2++ autonomous driving function. We will also launch a new platform - SSP, ready for L4 and L5 autonomous driving, and at the same time, the intelligent interconnection function of the models produced on this platform will be further enhanced. We have made a technical upgrade to the MQB platform, and the technical capabilities of MEB will be further upgraded and strengthened.
After the Spring Festival, the ID. family will usher in an important software upgrade, which we call ME3 internally, and this generation of software will further enhance the functions of many aspects of the car, including AR-HUD (Augmented Reality Head-Up Display System) and so on. Later this year, China's ID. products can also start OTA remote over-the-air upgrades. When it comes to over-the-air upgrades of vehicle software, safety comes first. For example, we need to know what kind of impact a remote software upgrade will have on the electronic control unit in the car. So, we do a lot of software and functional testing to get our vehicles ready for OTA upgrades while getting everything in place. By around this summer, this remote upgrade feature will be ready. Previously, we needed to invite customers to outlets to do offline upgrades. After that, we will be able to achieve remote online OTA upgrades.
We have a lot of work in 2022, a lot of plans, and this year we will launch about 12 new cars, half of which are pure electric models.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to the ID. --- product family that is very important to the Volkswagen brand.
Not only are ID.models new, but we also have different sales models for ID.models. About four years ago, I started talks with SAIC and FAW partners in the electric vehicle business, and it was necessary for us to change the dealer model in the past. Today, many consumers still have a lot of anxiety about pure trams, mileage worries, battery life worries, in addition, consumers will also worry about whether this car is getting at the best price. After some discussion, we decided to adopt the proxy model. Such a transformation is difficult. On the one hand, our fuel vehicles are sold through a 40-year-old, mature dealer franchise model; at the same time, we need to spend a lot of time sorting out the details to adopt a new sales model for electric vehicles. We want to build a number of FLAGSHIP STORES FOR ID. CARS, because ID. Cars are very unique, and the way to acquire customers and attract consumers is different. We have established flagship stores specifically for ID models, such as this store in Blue Harbor. We will further expand our ID.'s dedicated city showroom, which has 115 existing 115 new energy vehicle sales in All of China's main cities; the number of our city showrooms will increase to 200, which is the most densely populated showroom outlet for new energy vehicles in China, and is also supported by dealer investment. The blue harbor store is invested by SAIC Volkswagen and managed by a beijing SAIC Volkswagen dealer. Now the number of our ID. agents is constantly increasing, and there are about 6,000 trained ID. sales specialists selling ID. cars.
There are many ways to display in this shop, you can see the demonstration if you are interested, and the well-trained staff will also introduce the ID models and features to everyone. Through such an agent model, its sales volume and various economic indicators are far better than the previous traditional dealer model, and its response speed will be more flexible, more agile, and faster. Consumers who browse the store can get a global, panoramic experience.
At the same time, we are constantly investing in charging networks. Our joint venture, Camus, became China's premier provider of high-quality charging services last year. This project has been highly recognized by many car owners, which is a good fit for our MEB offensive.
People often ask me, "What are your future ID sales?" "What are the sales expectations?" "How many cars do you plan to sell in 2022". Specific sales will be affected by many factors, such as the availability of key components and parts, we have no way to estimate and predict, I can tell you: we will sell every ID produced. This is our commitment and attitude.
Q (Netcom): Just now Dr. Feng talked about the situation in 2021, my question is, after entering 2021, you have also invested in the entire electric vehicle, the entire Volkswagen Group is also in a period of transformation, my first question is that in the face of 2022, the entire market environment and even the entire economic environment are still relatively severe, what kind of specific measures the Volkswagen Group has for 2022, whether it is traditional vehicles or new energy, to cope with a more challenging year Just now Dr. Feng Sihan talked about Anhui in building a new third pole in the future, just now you also mentioned Tesla in Berlin, I have a suggestion, is there "Anhui speed" or "safety mode", you are a factory faster than Tesla in Berlin, but Chinese consumers still know less; I also know that Volkswagen Group has made a lot of efforts in Anhui, and has communicated in private, can this topic be extended a little? Thank you!
Dr. Feng Sihan: Volkswagen (Anhui) is not a simple presentation of the manufacturing process. Volkswagen (Anhui) supports the implementation of the group's electrification strategic intention, we want to build an ecosystem around the production and manufacturing of Volkswagen (Anhui)'s MEB, which includes digitalization and software development, such as the branches of the group's CARID software company, as well as batteries, spare parts, electronics, electrical and other aspects of support and support. Volkswagen (Anhui) will better realize the idea of "Being in China for China". In the past, there were many products and technological updates, such as engine replacement, which were promoted by the group headquarters, and in the digital era, there were many innovations and creations, which should be from China to the world. Therefore, Volkswagen (Anhui) is not only a high-tech integrated manufacturing center, but also an innovation and creation center around NEV.
Q: Volkswagen brand ID. Electric vehicles can be said to be the electric vehicles in the joint venture in 2021, riding the trend of the dust, what do you think is the main reason why ID. can achieve such results? Just now you mentioned that although it is not convenient to disclose sales expectations in 2022, will there be new ID. series models introduced to China in 2022? Thank you!
Dr. Feng Sihan: Just now I have introduced last year's sales, we had predicted that the sales volume in 2021 would be between 80,000 and 100,000 units, you can make some simple predictions, if you double on this basis, how much can be achieved. We have just reached the top 70,000 units now, and that number is still not enough. The growth in sales will be based on more models, and we are able to double in ID sales by easing supply difficulties through measures we have taken.
In the new year, Audi will also launch MEB platform models, Q5 e-tron, Roadjet has been launched. The launch of Audi's pure electric models on the MEB platform will further support the recovery of our sales. In 2022, ID. and Audi e-tron and so on will better support the promotion of our future new energy vehicle strategy, and we also hope to have more models suitable for the Chinese market.
Q: Thank you Dr. Feng Sihan. We noticed that some time ago, the entire volkswagen made a relatively large investment in software, 89 billion euros, and Dr. Diess also served as the head of CARIAD, and we have no corresponding business changes in China, including the organizational structure, the re-establishment of the R&D architecture, and the German business (development) of CARIAD. Just now you mentioned the battery business, last year China was largely in addition to the lack of cores also lack of batteries, Volkswagen is not facing such a problem, in addition to Guoxuan Hi-Tech There are no new partners?
Dr. Feng Sihan: Let's talk about the battery strategy first. Our strategic investment in Guoxuan Hi-Tech does not mean that we will exclude cooperation with other partners. Guoxuan Hi-Tech will work with Volkswagen Group to develop battery technology and launch standard batteries. The Group cooperates with partners in the world and South Korea, and in China, we have formed a good cooperation ecology with CATL and A123 and Guoxuan Hi-Tech, and their respective proportions, proportions and distributions are more appropriate in our opinion. In the future, we will also do more proportional optimization according to the design requirements and technical particularities of automobile batteries to ensure that we do not overly invest some focus on the research and development of certain technologies, nor do we abandon the synchronous development of other technologies.
With regard to CARIAD, the Group Global is actively promoting the development of CARIAD. CARIAD will also land in China. CARIAD China's layout has the following aspects: first, the headquarters is located in Beijing; second, Anhui will also have a CARIAD team, mainly around the standard software and electronic architecture to do on-board applications; third, in Shanghai, there will be a team focused on automatic driving; fourth, there is a pure software department in Chengdu, mainly for coding and programming. CARIAD will have multiple office locations, and there will be many R&D personnel to undertake hardware and software work. In the future, an important part of our innovation roadmap is around CARIAD and the work departments set up by CARIAD in China, including functions and capabilities to support future advanced intelligent interconnection, advanced intelligent driver assistance systems, and a new generation of electronic architecture with the SSP platform.
Q (CBN): On January 1 this year, the country's equity ratio policy has been completely liberalized, can you talk about whether this partnership with the public will be rethinked? Can you talk about the impact of the liberalization of the shareholding ratio policy on China's auto market? Thank you!
Dr. Feng Sihan: We very much welcome this policy, but for the Volkswagen Group, there will not be much change. For more than 40 years, our joint venture has been very successful and very solid, and even if we are allowed to have higher shareholdings, first of all, we need to solicit the willingness of the joint venture partners. If we were to build a whole new business, it would be difficult. Technically, the automotive industry has excess capacity, so the new capacity in the automotive industry is under control. Under such a background, from a practical point of view, whether it is possible to increase shareholding and whether new production capacity can be put in is a question mark. Now, our joint ventures with FAW and SAIC are very successful, we have increased our stake in Volkswagen (Anhui) to 75%, and we are negotiating with relevant departments to promote the Audi PPE project. In this way, we have four key enterprises, plus we have 100% wholly-owned parts factories, such as the transmission factory in Tianjin, the parts factory in Dalian, and our development towards the future is ready, and this state is already very good.
Q: Dr. Feng, you just mentioned that last year we were mainly a problem of supply rather than demand. First, roughly ask, last year, due to the problem of chips and components, how much did we reduce production? Second, you mentioned the new energy market, several Chinese Start ups have successively reached the scale of about 100,000 vehicles, in 2021, traditional car companies have also launched their electric models, please evaluate the approximate competitive situation next year and some of the challenges we may face? Thank you!
Dr. Feng Sihan: In terms of production losses, we can see from the publicly available data that compared to 2020, our entire group has reduced by 630,000 vehicles.
Several new energy vehicle companies, especially local companies, have been very successful, reaching the sales mark of 90,000 vehicles. There is a local car company that I really like, and their new energy vehicle strategy is very good. One or two years ago, we saw that domestic car companies gradually dominated China, and today their proportion is 35%-40%. The main force of the new energy vehicle market, Chinese car companies play a very important role, if volkswagen, Toyota, GM can get sufficient chip supply, we will see some changes in the pattern of the market. At the same time, Chinese car companies have a stronger and more obvious leading edge in new energy vehicles.
From the perspective of vehicle development, when we do benchmarking, 80% of the benchmarking models are Chinese models, and only 20% of them are international models. Therefore, we attach great importance to competitors or car companies in China's domestic market. I have said many times before that we can launch a wave of explosive cars, which is on the one hand; we must also ensure sustainability, we cannot sell a wave of explosive cars through losses, our business must be sustainable, we must consider shareholder returns, and we must emphasize long-term development. In the future long-distance running, we will also look at the long-term development, which companies can win, which corporate models are unsustainable or their models are unsustainable. We will also see that some Chinese local car companies, as some Korean car companies have done in the past, are becoming more and more powerful and important in the global market.
Q (Che Bide): Last year, we dismantled an ID.6X and found that the quality of Volkswagen's products can be in accordance with Volkswagen's past quality standards, even better than traditional energy vehicles, and also compared with competitors, and the car companies that landed in China are obviously not enough to verify. Just now Dr. Feng built a factory in Volkswagen Anhui to emphasize speed, the future emphasis on the speed process can still maintain product testing, verification work, product development can still be in strict accordance with volkswagen's development process to develop?
Dr. Feng Sihan: Volkswagen's standards for ID models can only be more stringent, and sometimes even extreme. Last year there was flooding in parts of China, and the ID. car waded through 80 cm depth without any problems, including the battery system under the bottom plate, which was not affected in any way and could work perfectly normally. Our ID. vehicle and battery must do two seasons of cycle testing, that is to say, there must be two rounds of extreme winter testing, extreme hot summer testing, so that from the development stage to the mass production stage takes two years. We "lost" two years of time because our quality standards were very strict, and these two years could not be bypassed. Volkswagen Anhui will also do the same group standards and principles. We're also constantly asking ourselves what work can be done faster because the industry as a whole is moving faster. But while pursuing speed, our quality cannot be reduced or compromised in any way.
Joas: Let me add. During the development process, we will heat the battery to 60 degrees Celsius, then immerse it in 0 degrees of cold water, and repeat this process to ensure that the battery can work properly; we also put it into a low temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius, and then transfer to the 70 degree environment within 30 seconds and keep it for 15 minutes, by repeating 40 cycles, we can avoid defects caused by temperature changes. In addition to this, we also do some relevant tests under special temperature conditions to ensure the full functionality of the battery pack under extreme conditions, especially its robustness and durability under torsion, deformation and vibration. If you make a cross-section of the battery, you will see every trace left by the metal texture inside during the impact or vibration process, and we can record it well so that the battery pack can maintain its daily use performance.
Q: Dr. Feng, I have two questions: First, just now you mentioned the agency system, everyone is very concerned about the public's agency system model, I would like you to talk about the experience or lessons of the agency system. We also learned a little bit, we went back to the dealer invoicing model, the price fluctuated, what do you think is the current or next challenge of the agency system? Second, in 2021, there has been an explosive growth of hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the Chinese market, and some people predict that in the next 5-10 years, hybrid will still be the mainstream of the market, will Volkswagen have some new layouts?
Dr. Feng Sihan: The agency system requires OEMs and consumers to sign contracts directly, so the process is simpler and clearer, and there will be no more inventory pressure, and from a legal point of view, this inventory pressure is borne by us. This approach is completely different from our previous approach. We hope that every vehicle produced by Volkswagen (Anhui) will be sold well throughout the country, and we will also sell it through a new agency system.
For Volkswagen (Anhui), the more suitable sales model is a new agency model. Of course, it is not excluded that there are many other models that can play a role. SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, two existing sales channels, they are the same dealer investors, that is, you can see the existence of several different models in the same dealership. In the EXHIBITION HALL OF SAIC VOLKSWAGEN, on the one hand, it sells through the traditional model of Tiguan, and at the same time, it adopts a new agency system for ID sales. When the customer arrives at saichiro Volkswagen's showroom and dealership, the salesman does not know whether the car the customer wants to buy is Tiguan or ID.4, and our dealers must consider whether to use the original model to sell Tiguan to you, or to use the new agency model to sell ID.4. This is what we need to do better with various partners, investors, which is better, which is more effective to achieve product sales. In the future, we will explore further, because we will develop the most suitable sales model for each distribution point to sell, so as to become the dominant sales model. At the same time, we hope that such a model will not lead to additional sales prices or protracted tug-of-war discussions about selling inventory. Therefore, in the future, more and more dealers will join this camp, and they will also show more interest and enthusiasm for this sales model. It is possible that in the next few years, after communicating with more partners, more partners will enter the channel of the new agency model. Of course, for Anhui Volkswagen, I have made it very clear that 100% will adopt the new agency system for sales, because they are selling electric models and must be easy to operate.
We believe that by 2030, the market share of new energy models will reach more than 50%, which is a reasonable expectation, and there will be new sales demand for us. If the total market volume is about 30 million units, the market for electrified models is almost 15-16 million units. As future technologies continue to make breakthroughs, by 2030, most internal combustion engine vehicles will also include electrified components or electric drive components in their powertrain.
Q: We are concerned that in 2021, the sales decline of SAIC-Volkswagen will be 17.5%, FAW-Volkswagen will be 13.9%, and the gap between north and south Volkswagen will further increase. Do you think that for SAIC Volkswagen, in addition to the impact of the chip, are there other factors that affect its sales? What kind of countermeasures we will have in this regard in the future. As you mentioned, the impact of chips will continue in 2022, where do you think the key point is for SAIC Volkswagen to return to the rise?
Dr. Feng Sihan: A very important question is how we optimize and segment the brand's product portfolio. Skoda still has to do the work of catching up. ON THE ONE HAND, AUDI IS A LUXURY BRAND, LOVED BY CHINESE CONSUMERS, AND SALES ARE VERY GOOD, WITH A DECLINE OF ONLY 3.6%, WHICH BOOSTS FAW-VOLKSWAGEN'S PERFORMANCE IN SALES FROM ANOTHER ANGLE. At present, SAIC Volkswagen is not as high as FAW-Volkswagen in terms of scale or volume, but the future sales potential still exists.
We will do some model optimization and adjustment, and we are doing some exchanges with FAW-Volkswagen partners on how to boost the sales of the sub-brand Jetta, because the sales of the Jetta in China are very good. We see that it is to some extent more limitedly affected by our global lack of cores. Therefore, we hope to be able to optimize the combination of more brands that are less affected by other external influences to promote our sales increase in the short term, so as to achieve our return in sales in 2022.
Of course, our different partners are not affected to the same extent by their chip supply shortages, and considering the lack of cores is also considering the launch of models such as the Audi A3. With the entry of A3, Q5 and other models into the market, we will have more secret weapons to boost sales in the future, and we can also achieve our sales rebound in 2022, as long as we can effectively overcome the problem of chip shortage.
Q: Please ask a question, as is the launch of pure electric new products is the construction of the entire ecological system with charge and discharge as the core, I don't know what kind of progress Volkswagen has made in the construction of the charging system this year? What are the plans for 2022? Thank you!
Dr. Feng Sihan: Charge and discharge infrastructure has always been the focus of discussion in the industry. Some brand models use a power swap model, but Volkswagen does not use this method. The power exchange mode means that if the power exchange rate is 18%, the company should add an additional 18%-20% of the battery system to support this model, considering the acquisition of raw materials, the cost of substation construction, etc., the corresponding investment is very high. Therefore, for a product brand like Volkswagen, this is not our option. As battery technology continues to evolve, we're also seeing more high-power charging technologies evolve to 80% or even 100% fully charged within 15 minutes, all of which have been rapidly achieved over the past few years. In 2030, if more than 50% are pure electric models or new energy models, if we can do a good job in the construction of high-power charging infrastructure and technology research and development, we can better reduce our charging time on the existing basis by 50% or even shorter, we believe that the future of this market is unlimited.
Q: There was a rumor recently that Volkswagen and Huawei might jointly establish an autonomous driving company? Is there any information on this that can be disclosed? This year, many foreign brands such as Toyota and Honda have also begun to promote pure electric vehicles into the market, what suggestions or ideas can you give them reference for these latecomers?
Dr. Feng Sihan: Our experience is: be patient. There is a big difference between consumers of new energy vehicles and consumers of fuel vehicles, and the main value points we have always focused on, including safety and reliability, must also communicate patiently in the new energy market, and also bring the most attractive selling points to customers. This communication process may take a little longer than a traditional car market.
In China, we have to work with strong local Chinese companies. For example, we have also worked closely with a sensor technology company in China, which may be used in future autonomous driving technology. Huawei is a very strong Chinese technology company, and we maintain communication with Huawei, but there is no information that can be confirmed at this stage.
Q: You just mentioned that the new FAW-Audi joint venture will introduce the PPE platform, what is the progress of the new joint venture? The previous plan was to put into production in 2024, will there be a delay in the time node?
Dr. Feng Sihan: The PLAN for the 2024 production of PPE is still achievable. The project is still going through the process. Now all those involved in this project are also working hard, which is an important part of our group's electrification strategy.
Q: Wei Xiaoli's development in China has very distinct product and brand characteristics. Dr. Feng, if you use three words to describe the ID. series model, which three words would you choose? Before He Xiaopeng made an evaluation in an interview with the dialogue, he believed that the keyword of Weilai was "high-end + power exchange", the ideal was "family", Xiaopeng car was "handsome + intelligent", what do you think ID is?
Dr. Feng Sihan: ID. is a Volkswagen model in the true sense of the word. Products of the Volkswagen brand often cannot be defined or generalized in one dimension. We offer our customers a very balanced product in all aspects, whether it is safety, excellent quality, durability, driving pleasure and so on. Of course, our autonomous driving function, the function of intelligent interconnection system, must be further developed. We always pay attention to the needs of consumers, and many ID customers enjoy driving fluency, driving assistance systems, seat comfort, etc. ID. and other Volkswagen brands are very balanced.