Credit：Visual China

In order to boost its presence in China, Stellantis, Europe’s second largest automobile manufacturer by sales, is weighing options to team up with a Chinese EV maker, such investment in a local EV firm and a business partnership that can help the European giant grow in the country, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Stellantis did not made final decision yet, while it has worked on possibility of tie-up with Chinese EV companies including Zhejiang Leapmotor Technologies Ltd., according to the report. It added that Volkswagen and other international auto manufacturers also expressed their interests in alliances with Leapmotor.

Stellantis and Volkswagen declined to comment on the report, so did Leapmotor. Stellantis’ news came weeks after Volkswagen’s Jetta brand was said to talk with Leapmotor to outsource its technology with a focus on affordable EVs. If the deal is settled, that Hangzhou-based Leapmotor would be the second Chinese EV startup to help build EVs for Volkswagen.

Volkswagen, the top 1 European automaker by revenue, has officially reached new partnership with Chinese peers to ramp up expansion in EV sector last month following speculation about it subsidiary Audi’s expansion move. Audi was reported in July to consider acquisition of an EV platform from SAIC Motor-backed premium EV brand IM Motors. The report suggested Audi could be the first foreign auto brand to buy auto tech from Chinese rivals, making history for China’s auto industry that has been heavily relied on foreign-developed technology for decades.

Later that month, Volkswagen announced Audi has inked a long-term framework agreement on technical collaboration with SAIC Motor, furthering cooperation with China’s largest carmaker. Volkswagen said the models, as a result of the new collaboration, would be under Audi brand, but didn’t specify which models Audi and SAIC would develop together or when the two companies could set up a joint venture to produce these models.

Volkswagen also sealed a framework agreement on strategic technical collaboration with Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng Inc. The two parties will jointly develop two B-class battery electric vehicles (BEV) models for sale in the Chinese market under Volkswagen brand, leveraging respective core competencies and Xpeng’s full-stack technologies, from EV platform G9 to Connectivity and advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) software. The models are expected to start production in 2026. The parties will explore additional potential strategic cooperation in a number of areas, including collaboration on future EV platforms, software technologies and supply chain.

The two companies also reached a share purchase agreement for strategic minority investment the same month. Under the investment agreement, Volkswagen will spend about US$700 million to acquire Class A ordinary shares at US$15 per American depositary share. When the deal completes, Volkswagen is set to take an about 4.99% stakes in Xpeng and become the third largest shareholder, next to Xpeng’s CEO and cofounder He Xiaopeng and Alibaba Group. Volkswagen has entitled to appoint an observer at Xpeng’s board upon completion of the investment.

At an earnings conference call in late July, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said his company’s co-developed EVs will be produced at Edward platform, an older generation of Xpeng’s platform technology underpinned the Chinese startup’s G9 and P7 models. Xpeng will receive technology service revenue from Volkswagen, historically reversing a traditional model of foreign automakers charging Chinese partners for tech licensing in the past four decades. 

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