Since Xiaopeng was favored by Volkswagen Group last year, the relationship between the two sides has been heating up.
On April 17, Xiaopeng announced that it will launch an electronic and electrical (EEA) architecture technical cooperation with Volkswagen Group, and the two sides will jointly develop a new electronic and electrical architecture.
According to the plan, starting in 2026, the architecture will be applied to all electric vehicles produced by the Volkswagen brand in China, and will first cover the 4 entry-level electric vehicles built on the CMP platform.
This is the third time that Volkswagen has held hands with Xiaopeng. From the official announcement of a 5 billion yuan investment in Xiaopeng in July of last year and a “technical marriage”, to the start of joint procurement in February of this year, to joint development at the current structural level, the depth of cooperation has deepened step by step.
Volkswagen's goal is to launch planned electric models in China in 2026 on time and speed up the iteration of the platform in China.
Chairman of Volkswagen China Berrard said bluntly that if we want to maintain our position in the rapidly changing Chinese market, we must speed up again. He revealed that Volkswagen China is doing research and development, so there is no need to ask for instructions from the German headquarters.
Now that features such as advanced smart driving are becoming standard, the public needs to step up remedial classes. Coupled with the internal volume of new forces, the speed of iteration has also become a key factor in consolidating its position in the industry.
“The models in the Chinese market are replaced every three years, the architecture is upgraded every two years, and the vehicles are OTA updated every month, so we must keep up with the pace,” said Berrard.

Volkswagen China also chose Xiaopeng due to this consideration. Xiaopeng's EEA architecture allows the XNGP smart driving system and connected car operating system to be decoupled from the underlying hardware and vehicle platform to support vehicle OTA.
In order to ensure the advancement of Volkswagen's R&D strategy in China, on April 11, Volkswagen China also spent 2.5 billion euros (about 19.2 billion yuan) to expand its production and innovation center in Hefei with Xiaopeng to strengthen local research and development. In the future, two B-Class models cooperated by the two parties will also be produced here.
It can be seen that Volkswagen is in a hurry to take back the Chinese market. For Xiaopeng, this is also a one-size-fits-all partnership. Xiaopeng needs to give consumers and investors a story they can see and increase their confidence in it.
Entering 2024, Xiaopeng's sales volume recovered. Compared with the first quarter of last year, it sold 13,000 units less, down nearly 40%. According to He Xiaopeng's plan, 30 new cars will be launched in the next three years, of which 3 will be launched this year.
In order to get through this painful period quickly, He Xiaopeng chose to buck the trend and invest strongly in technology, products, and organizational structure. This undoubtedly requires more abundant food and vegetable support. Cooperation with the public has become a new profit growth point and a tool to hedge against fluctuations.
He Xiaopeng pointed out that this is a strategic cooperation based on larger scale considerations. He expects that Xiaopeng will start receiving some revenue from platform and software services this year. Coupled with the joint procurement initiated with Volkswagen, it will bring some improvement to Xiaopeng's gross margin, and also leave more room for price adjustments for both models.
With Volkswagen as a “backer,” Xiaopeng also broke away from the previous single business model of “building cars,” giving investors more confidence. On April 18, Xiaopeng Hong Kong stocks rose 3.19% in a single day, and the market value reached HK$55 billion.
However, after the safety cushion is strengthened, whether Xiaopeng can use the advantages of cooperation to get more popular products and get votes from consumers is the key to actually realizing it and becoming a giant's “big plan.”