German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the FAW-Volkswagen Chengdu plant on Sunday Photo: Liang Fei/GT

 

German carmaker Volkswagen will bring more new energy vehicles (NEV) to China in the next few years, but mainly plug-in hybrids, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China Jochem Heizmann said in an interview over the weekend.

The company will start to import its electric-up! pure electric model to China in the second half of this year, and is also "working hard" to bring its e-Golf electric model to China as soon as possible, Heizmann said.

In 2016, its Audi A6 plug-in hybrid model is set to be locally produced in China, he said. "And a lot of models will follow. We are working intensively on the issue."

The interview comes at a time when German Chancellor Angela Merkel is paying a three-day visit to China, and Sino-Germany cooperation in NEVs will be one of the focuses of Merkel's visit, media said.

The news has sent NEV related stocks surging on Friday. Shares in Zhejiang Founder Motor Co, a company that produces motors for NEVs, surged to its daily limit of 10 percent on the Shenzhen bourse on Friday.

"Our priority is plug-in hybrids," Heizmann said, noting that the company will focus on hybrids, which require less charging infrastructure, until there is a major breakthrough in battery technology.

In May, China produced a total of 3,770 units of NEVs, up 98.32 percent year-on-year. From this total, 1,014 units of plug-in hybrid passenger cars were produced in the month, surging 567.11 percent on a yearly basis, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Production of NEVs in China has more than doubled in the first five months, MIIT data showed.

Though the market has shown major growth recently, charging infrastructure and battery technology remains a concern for both consumers and carmakers. Heizmann said he is unsure how many its electric-up! and e-Golf models would be sold in China. "We are still in a testing period," he said.

Merkel started her China visit by visiting FAW-Volkswagen's Chengdu plant Sunday, a sign that the country is keen on trade and investment opportunities in China's central and western areas.

Heizmann also said that Volkswagen would double its Chengdu plant's capacity to 600,000 units in the future from the current 450,000.

Heizmann said sales of Volkswagen in China increased by 18 percent year-on-year in the first half - compared to an average growth of 13 percent in the overall Chinese market.