From "joint venture aircraft carrier" to "smart power cutting edge", where does FAW-Volkswagen’s transformation come from?
Under the spotlight of the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, FAW-Volkswagen demonstrated the joint venture giant’s determination to "sail at full speed" with a high-density media communication meeting. From the "invisible king" of the fuel car market to the "breaker" of the new energy track, Wu Yingkai, deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen (business), secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., led the core team to face the changes in the industry, from technological innovation to strategic transformation, from service upgrading to localization, and talked about it all the time …
This communication meeting is really not simple. It not only unveiled the brand transformation card of the joint venture, but also showed the determination of FAW-Volkswagen to "lead the trend" in the stormy waves.
"Look at the past pessimistically, look at the future optimistically": the strategic strength behind the U-turn of the aircraft carrier
"If we take the past as the frame of reference, the present may be the most difficult year, but it may also be the easiest year in the future." Facing the media’s concern about the decline of joint venture brand share, Wu Yingkai summed up the mentality of FAW-Volkswagen in one sentence-"look at the past pessimistically and look at the future optimistically".
It is a foregone conclusion that the fuel vehicle market will shrink, but Wu Yingkai bluntly said: "The scale of 10 million fuel vehicles is still the long-term basic market in China, and the moat of FAW-Volkswagen has never wavered." The data shows that in March this year, the sales volume of FAW-Volkswagen fuel vehicles increased by 1.4% against the trend, and the market share increased by 1.1 percentage points, ranking among the top joint venture brands. In Wu Yingkai’s view, the advantages of fuel vehicles must be "adhered to", but the great ship of transformation has already turned around: "From 2026, we will launch nine new energy vehicles, covering pure electricity, plug-in and hybrid, with the goal of’ not losing the advantages of oil and not letting the opportunities of electricity’."
This transformation is not only the iteration of products, but also the reconstruction of the system. Wu Yingkai used the story of Wolfsburg to prove his localization determination: in the past, Volkswagen’s car styling was dominated by Germany, but recently, Volkswagen decided on the styling of a certain car-the design team of Wolfsburg and the Chinese design team made proposals at the same time, and finally, the styling proposal of the Chinese team was adopted.
Volkswagen’s R&D rhythm has changed from "global collaboration" to "China leading", and even the development efficiency has increased by over 30%. Wu Yingkai revealed that German Volkswagen executives also deeply felt this. "They are prepared for danger in times of peace, and they are not complacent. They don’t think that Volkswagen brands are selling well in other parts of the world, so they think they are doing well. That’s not true. Therefore, it is based on this thinking that our shareholders very much recognize such a direction and must conduct research and development based on local market demand. "
Undoubtedly, the uniqueness of China market is forcing global giants to change the rules of the game. The future public must be a "more China" public.
"Technologist" and "Space King Bombing": Hard Power Behind the Sword Show at Auto Show
At this year’s auto show, FAW-Volkswagen, with the slogan of "new technology leading, new products leading and new appearance", presented two killer weapons-the world’s first ID. AURA concept car and the brand-new "space power double king bombing", and directly fired at the new energy and fuel vehicle markets at the same time.
It is not only Volkswagen’s first pure electric compact car based on CMP platform, but also equipped with CEA electronic and electrical architecture, which can be seamlessly integrated with artificial intelligence cockpit, intelligent driver assistance system and other technologies, bringing smarter interconnection experience, faster response speed and more advanced cockpit intelligent experience. Wu Yingkai believes that the design of this car is younger, more dynamic and more energetic, which can meet the needs of young families in China.
ID.AURA has a number of "black technologies", such as the industry’s first intelligent music glass, which uses nano-ceramic technology to transform the front and rear windshields and awnings into invisible sound field units. Compared with traditional speaker systems, the energy consumption has dropped by 72%. On the mechanical level, CMP platform can be said to be the latest future platform integrating the current core technologies of Volkswagen brand. Because of its long wheelbase and short front and rear suspension, the wheelbase of compact models will exceed 2800mm, which will give the products ample internal space.
The combination of CMP electric platform and CEA electronic and electrical architecture will not only inject more powerful and sustainable intelligent genes into FAW-Volkswagen’s future models, but also lead the technological leap of intelligent electric, and also improve the speed of FAW-Volkswagen’s products from research and development to listing by more than 30%, realizing the real "China speed"; At the same time, the comfortable and intelligent cockpit developed by FAW-Volkswagen will also be officially unveiled at the auto show. This smart cockpit is oriented to the real needs of China users under the background of FAW-Volkswagen’s deep participation in the definition and research and development of localized goods, and is led by FAW-Volkswagen team.
In the fuel car camp, FAW-Volkswagen "shows muscles" with its brand-new territory. As "Volkswagen’s largest SUV in the world", this flagship SUV with a car length of over 5.2 meters and a wheelbase of nearly 3 meters has set a new space record at the same level with a "room occupancy rate" of 87.2%. The fifth-generation EA888 engine equipped with it will increase power by 23.5%, but reduce fuel consumption by 3.7%. It not only meets the travel needs of families with many children, but also can conquer the performance party with "the strongest 2.0T on the surface". As Wu Yingkai said, in the field of fuel vehicles, FAW-Volkswagen Volkswagen brand is undoubtedly still the "head leader".
Wu Yingkai said: "In the new era of intelligent travel, we don’t want to be distant showmen, but just be within our reach, so that our users can truly experience the scientific and technological achievements that are practical, easy to use and dare to use."
"Double Lifetime Warranty" and "Craftsman’s Heart Service": The quality of the paper is the open plan.
When the industry is caught in the melee between "price war" and "intelligent driving war", FAW-Volkswagen has chosen a more difficult track at present-"quality and service". In March of this year, FAW-Volkswagen took the lead in launching the "Double Lifetime Warranty" (complete vehicle+original spare parts) for all fuel SUVs, covering ten core systems, and promised "nationwide warranty and unlimited mileage".
The original intention of double lifetime warranty is to really benefit users, not simply to stimulate sales. Wu Yingkai bluntly said. In the current price war of "involution" in the industry, FAW-Volkswagen chooses to replace price reduction with service value-added and reduce the cost of users’ cars with the promise of "worry-free life". Dare to do "open plan" because FAW-Volkswagen has the confidence-34 years of quality accumulation, extremely low product failure rate, and the calculation cost is lower than the industry. Wu Yingkai admits that some car companies may find it difficult to follow up because of insufficient data and high cost, but he also calls on the industry to jump out of "price internal friction" and turn to "healthy involution" centered on users. Wu Yingkai expressed the hope that through such a policy, the industry will be "a little more in the volume dimension", rather than purely the volume price, so that the industry can develop more healthily.
The "capillary" of service network has also become the core competitiveness of FAW-Volkswagen. At present, FAW-Volkswagen has nearly 900 dealers from Lhasa Plateau to first-tier cities, and 90% of them have cooperated for more than 20 years. Facing the marketing of new energy vehicles in the future, Wu Yingkai believes that from the current experience of China automobile market, there is no universal model for direct sales and agency, and "what is suitable is right", and FAW-Volkswagen will not stick to a certain model. He also said that FAW-Volkswagen is "studying another direction". According to the regional flexible adaptation model, "different provinces and different urban models may be different."
"Oil and electricity mixed together" and "long-term doctrine": don’t be a sailboat, be a giant ship.
Wu Yingkai’s response to the discussion that "joint venture shares have bottomed out" is full of dialectics: he believes that foreign brands are indeed lagging behind in the new energy track, which is an objective reality. The structural impact of new energy is irreversible, but the share of joint venture brands in the field of fuel vehicles has always been leading, occupying an absolute advantage. Once the joint venture brand fills the shortcomings of electrification, it will still have a new development opportunity and return to the "main stage" of China auto market.
He even called for diluting the boundary between joint venture and autonomy. "In today’s globalization and the current global competition in trade wars, it is even more important to realize that the joint venture car is also a China car, made in Chinese, and the future products are designed by more Chinese, and Chinese is also supported." Wu Yingkai said with a smile, in his view, there is no distinction between joint venture and independence. "A car suitable for China is a good car, and an enterprise that makes a car suitable for China consumers is a good enterprise.".
With the layout of more new energy products in the future, FAW-Volkswagen will go further and further on the road of mixed oil and electricity. Starting from 2026, FAW-Volkswagen brand will launch 10 brand-new models in several market segments based on the strategy of "fuel-electric hybrid, fuel-electric hybrid and all-intelligence", including 5 pure electric models, 2 plug-in hybrids, 2 hybrids and 1 brand-new fuel model. Wu Yingkai said that what FAW-Volkswagen has to do is a real "all-round battle": "The advantages of oil are not lost, the opportunities of electricity are not allowed, the efficiency of hybrid is not lacking, and the intelligent experience is not weak."
In the brutal market competition, in order to maintain long-term sustainable development, Wu Yingkai believes that we must also adhere to customer-centered long-term and altruism. On the strategic level, FAW-Volkswagen’s "long-term" runs through the whole value chain: from setting up customer care funds to responding quickly to the needs of car owners, from "user scenario definition" in research and development to "zero compromise quality control" in production. Wu Yingkai took the ID model as an example: 436 safety verifications were carried out from batteries, modules to battery packs. In terms of battery life test, there were as many as 1,600 charge and discharge tests before listing. "FAW-Volkswagen never treats customers as’ mice’."
"Longevity is not a slogan, but an action logic that persists and goes deep into every link of building a car; Altruism is not a gesture, but our unreserved and sincere commitment to our customers. Therefore, here we also call on industry brother brands, and everyone must also adhere to long-term and altruism. " Wu Yingkai made such a statement. At the same time, he also contacted the recent unhealthy trend of the relevant departments to rectify the "involution" and false propaganda of the industry-from the introduction of the "strictest power battery safety order in history" to the strengthening of the supervision of intelligent driving by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and stepping on the "sudden brake", which is completely consistent with FAW-Volkswagen’s concept and values of building cars. He said that FAW-Volkswagen "very much welcomes such requirements from the state and relevant departments, which is the real customer-centered and long-term behavior."
"In the sea of stars in the automobile industry, FAW-Volkswagen will not be a sailboat that follows the trend, but will become a giant ship that breaks the wind and waves and leads the trend!" Wu Yingkai said.
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Data will never lie. In March 2025, FAW-Volkswagen sold 154,000 vehicles, and the sales of fuel vehicles increased by 1.4% year-on-year. Among them, Volkswagen brand sold 87,000 vehicles, and the share of fuel vehicles increased by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year.
A hundred battles are fought, and those who struggle are the first; Qian Fan competes, and the brave one wins. As Wu Yingkai said at the end of the communication meeting, the "aircraft carrier" FAW-Volkswagen has set sail at full speed. There may be stormy waves ahead, but 34 years of quality accumulation, the trust of 20 million users and the deep binding between Chinese and German shareholders are enough for it to continue to break the waves.
