China: VW MEB Plants In Foshan and Anting Begin Production

Three weeks ago, Volkswagen Group officially introduced the first two MEB-based electric cars for the Chinese market, which happens to be locally-made versions of the ID.4, which are slightly different from each other and from the European ID.4.

Those two new models are:

• Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ - produced by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture
• Volkswagen ID.4 X - produced by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture

Production has already started, while sales will begin in early 2021. The company intends to introduce three more MEB-based models in 2021 and have a total of 8 by 2023.

FAW-Volkswagen’s ID.4 CROZZ

SAIC Volkswagen’s ID.4 X

Both joint ventures have plants ready to produce up to 300,000 electric cars annually (a total of 600,000 annually).

In the case of SAIC Volkswagen's Anting plant, only MEB models will be produced, while the FAW-Volkswagen's Foshan plant will be producing a mix of MEB and MQB models.

FAW-Volkswagen plant in Foshan, China

SAIC Volkswagen electric-only plant in Anting, China

FAW-Volkswagen plant in Foshan: 

• Capacity: up to 300,000 MEB-based EVs annually (EV only plant)
• MEB models: Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ
• powered entirely by renewable energy - 200,000 square meters / 8.2 MW (9,000 MWh per year) of solar panels have been installed

"The Foshan plant was revamped on the site of original production facilities as one of the most flexible plants in the global production network. It allows to produce both convention ICE models based on the MQB platform and pure-electric models based on the MEB platform on the same production line. A highly flexible set-up enables co-production of 6 to 8 MEB products. With more than 1,200 robots in the welding workshop and an automation rate of nearly 100 percent in the paint shop, Foshan is one of the most productive plants in China."

SAIC Volkswagen plant in Anting:

• Capacity: up to 300,000 MEB-based EVs annually
• MEB models: Volkswagen ID.4 X
• "20% more energy efficient than comparable plants"

"The Anting MEB plant is Volkswagen Group’s first greenfield MEB plant anywhere in the world, 100% dedicated to the manufacture of pure-electric vehicles. Through standardisation measures, the infrastructure investment at the new Anting plant was cut by 5 percent compared to previous car plants, despite significant higher costs for site-specific requirements."

Both of those MEB projects were started in the second half of 2018.