FAW-Volkswagen marks 30 millionth car as China's auto confidence grows

CHANGCHUN - As a gleaming new Audi sedan A5L slowly rolled off the assembly line at FAW-Volkswagen's Changchun plant Thursday night, the joint venture celebrated a historic milestone -- its 30 millionth car produced in China.

Ralf Brandstätter, Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, called the moment a significant milestone, describing it as "a symbol of teamwork, trust and the strong partnership between FAW and Volkswagen."

The milestone is not only for a single company, but a strong signal for global automakers that as the world's largest auto market, China is an unmissable opportunity for ambitious global players.

Founded in 1991, FAW-Volkswagen has grown from producing a single Jetta model under one brand to offering 33 models of fuel-powered and new energy vehicles (NEVs).

Its operations now span six plants in five cities, namely Changchun, Chengdu, Foshan, Qingdao and Tianjin. Over 34 years, the company has recorded accumulated revenue exceeding 5.5 trillion yuan ($776 billion).

"China and Germany share one of the most trusted and successful industrial partnerships in the world. Our company is a great example of this," Brandstätter said.

The company's success highlights how confidence in China's economy and automotive future continues to grow among foreign automakers. They are accelerating investments in China's auto market through expanded production, intensified R&D efforts, and strengthened cooperation.

In July, German auto giant BMW announced that it would establish its first information technology (IT) research and development center in China, marking a significant expansion of the company's digital capabilities.

The new entity, BMW (Nanjing) Information Technology Co Ltd will be located in Nanjing's Jianye district, East China's Jiangsu province, and operated as an independent legal entity. It will focus on cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), industrial digital twins and intelligent manufacturing, BMW said.

Once operational, the Nanjing center is set to be BMW's largest IT R&D hub in Asia. It is designed to strengthen the automaker's global production, sales, and after-sales systems through digital solutions rooted in China's rapidly evolving tech landscape.

"With the establishment of this new company, we are accelerating BMW's local digital core capabilities," said Franz Decker, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. "By joining forces with China's innovation ecosystem, we aim to propel BMW Group's digital transformation both in China and globally."

As China continues to open its doors wider, its blend of policy support, innovation, and vast consumer demand is giving global automakers new reasons to stay and grow.

According to Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, China attracted over $720 billion in foreign investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), with more than one-third flowing into high-tech industries, including auto.

More automakers are riding on the tide of China's booming high-tech sectors and embracing China's technological advances as a source of innovation and collaboration.

Daniel Navarro Rios, executive vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Group China, said in September that the company has established partnerships across the Chinese academic and industrial sectors. It teams up with Tencent, ByteDance and Tsinghua University.

"We are leveraging China's dynamic ecosystem. We build a strong R&D network in China, and we are driving innovation at China speed," said Navarro Rios.

FAW and Volkswagen also deepened their collaboration earlier this year, signing an agreement in March to roll out 11 new models tailored for the Chinese market starting in 2026 - 10 of which will be NEVs.

"Our vision is to build a new benchmark for high-quality development and high-level opening-up," said Chen Bin, general manager of FAW-Volkswagen, adding that the company plans to launch four new NEVs under the Jetta brand and lift production and sales to the 400,000- to 500,000-unit range within five years.