Sino-German joint venture FAW-Volkswagen held a celebration on May 21 to mark the 30th anniversary of the company's establishment in Changchun, Jilin province, and shed light on its future vision.

"Through the hard work of all Chinese and foreign employees, FAW-Volkswagen has grown from a seedling to a towering giant tree, gained the trust of more than 22 million customers, and realized a leap-forward development from a pioneer to a leader," said General Manager Pan Zhanfu.

On Feb. 6, 1991, FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co. Ltd., a large joint venture passenger vehicle manufacturer, was founded by China FAW Group Corporation, Germany's Volkswagen AG, AUDI AG, and Volkswagen (China) Investment Co. Ltd. It is the first modernized passenger vehicle manufacturer established in China that corresponds with the economic scale. 

After 30 years of development, FAW-Volkswagen's production capacity layout is spread across northeast China (Changchun), southwest China (Chengdu), south China (Foshan), east China (Qingdao) and north China (Tianjin), with five bases and eight professional production plants. To date, more than 30 products have been launched under the three major brands of Audi, Volkswagen and Jetta.

The company not only drove the high-speed development of the Chinese auto industry, but has also boosted various regional economies. Over the past three decades, FAW-Volkswagen has sold 22 million vehicles, created 500,000 jobs together with suppliers and dealers, and paid a total of 560 billion yuan in taxes— the biggest taxpayer in the auto sector, according to the statistics provided by FAW-Volkswagen.

Using the Volkswagen Group's world-class MQB and MEB platforms, the company applies a wide range of leading equipment and technologies throughout various aspects of production. While on a course of rapid development, it continues to enhance its technical R&D strength, and recruit and train a lot of professional talents for auto industry. In 2019, the company was accredited by the Top Employers Institute as one of the "Top Employers China" for 12 consecutive years.

In 2020, a year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, with support of China's pandemic prevention and favorable financial measures, the company's vehicle sales still managed to rise 1.5% year-on-year to over 2.16 million units, which made it the only auto company in China to surpass the two million mark in annual production and sales. 

In the first four months of 2021, its vehicle sales soared 45% year-on-year to 719,000 units. At the celebration on May 21, FAW-Volkswagen put forward a new goal: to achieve annual production and sales of three million vehicles by 2025.

Facing the new trends and changes of the modern auto industry, FAW-Volkswagen will actively respond to the call of the 14th Five-Year Plan and China's Vision 2035 and explore high-efficiency, green development through e-mobility and digital transformation as "our true core competitiveness in the future," Pan said.

Dr. Andre Stoffels, FAW-Volkswagen's first vice president (Finance), added: "FAW-Volkswagen has always been pursuing green and low-carbon development and is committed to achieving a sustainable growth with environmentally friendly initiatives". 

In the context of energy saving and emission reduction, he said, FAW-Volkswagen would further accelerate the introduction of new energy vehicles, and further pursue its strategy of "goTOzero" production.

For example, in 2020, the production of MEB models in the Foshan factory consumed 100% of green electricity, and the overall carbon dioxide emission of FAW-Volkswagen dropped by 36% compared to 2015.

When offering congratulations on the anniversary via video link, Dr. Herbert Diess, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG, noted that FAW-Volkswagen actively participated in Volkswagen Group's actions to tackle global climate change. As the Volkswagen Group strives to become carbon dioxide-neutral by 2050, FAW-Volkswagen would play vital role in China, he pledged.

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