Xiaopeng has trained hundreds of engineers for Volkswagen. Be careful not to teach the apprentices and starve the master to death

Volkswagen + Xiaopeng equals Dapeng!

This is a joke that Chinese netizens came up with, but from the current point of view, the cooperation between the two parties has not yet reached the stage of spreading its wings, but is just laying the foundation. It is reported that hundreds of Volkswagen engineers entered the headquarters of Xiaopeng Motors yesterday to accept interviews and training from Xiaopeng Motors.

While foreign manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda are hesitant and even still look down on new energy, Volkswagen has already bent over and regarded a small Chinese new car-making force as its "teacher".

Volkswagen really wants to develop new energy!

In July last year, Volkswagen invested US$700 million in Xpeng Motors, acquiring a 4.99% stake and a board observer seat.

Similar collaborations are not uncommon in the new energy vehicle industry, but few have borne fruit.

Denza, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and BYD, was established in 2010, but did almost nothing before BYD took over 95% of the shares; the joint venture between Toyota and BYD has been established for more than four years, but has not come up with anything new.

Compared with the above cooperation, the sincerity of Volkswagen and Xiaopeng is completely different. The cooperation has been aimed at specific goals from the beginning. The two parties agreed to develop two electric vehicles with Volkswagen logo based on Xiaopeng G9 and launch them in 2026.

At the end of February this year, the two parties signed an agreement to jointly purchase common parts for co-developed vehicle models and platforms to reduce costs.

60 days later, Volkswagen and Xiaopeng signed the China Electronic and Electrical Architecture (CEA) technical strategic cooperation framework agreement, and the depth of cooperation between the two parties was once again upgraded.

Some of the hundreds of employees sent by Volkswagen to Xiaopeng this time came directly from the German headquarters, and employee training itself is part of the CEA project between the two parties.

The two parties have only been cooperating for one year, but they have already come up with so many "big things". It seems like they can't wait. What is a two-way rush and what is a superficial harmony? Just look at Volkswagen and Xiaopeng, and then compare them with Mercedes-Benz and BYD, and everything will be clear.

Of course, more exciting things are yet to come.

Xiaopeng has set up an independent office area for employees from Volkswagen. The CEA architecture jointly developed by the two parties will not only be used for cooperative models, but will also be used by Volkswagen for the "China-exclusive" CMP platform. In other words, some models of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen will also adopt this architecture in the future.

In addition, the body-in-white of the first model of the cooperation between the two parties has rolled off the production line and is expected to be launched in 2025, one year earlier than originally planned.

Not to mention the new energy era, even in the entire fuel vehicle era, this level of close cooperation between car companies is the first time, and both parties have begun to be deeply tied up in all aspects of car manufacturing. Moreover, this time Chinese manufacturers also played the role of technology exporter.

The reason why Volkswagen is eager to cooperate is simple: what it has now is really disappointing.

In terms of electric vehicles, Volkswagen has invested a lot of resources and built multiple car manufacturing platforms, but from the actual results, it is just a lot of noise with little rain. A lot of money has been spent, but there is still no way to get it right.

Take Volkswagen's MEB platform as an example. This is Volkswagen's global car manufacturing platform and an important foundation for Volkswagen to achieve electrification transformation. But until now, the development cycle of MEB platform products is still as long as 48 months, or 4 years.

What does 4 years mean in China's new energy market? In the first half of 2020, BYD sold 30,000 vehicles a month, but in 2022, it became the global new energy sales champion with annual sales of 1.8 million vehicles. The 4-year development cycle has put Volkswagen's MEB platform electric vehicles in a dilemma of "lagging behind as soon as they are launched".

In China's new energy vehicle industry, Xiaopeng is just a new car manufacturer with monthly sales of barely over 10,000, and has been making huge losses, and has fallen to the second echelon of new forces. But the strength depends on who you compare with. Xiaopeng has a complete set of new energy vehicle solutions, which no joint venture manufacturer currently has.

The cooperation between Volkswagen and Xpeng has deepened rapidly in just one year, proving that Volkswagen has great recognition of Xpeng's technical strength. However, is there another possibility: Volkswagen recognizes Xpeng so much that it wants to swallow it up?

The idea behind the cooperation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng is very simple. Through this cooperation, Volkswagen can spend money to buy a track, first obtain Xiaopeng's core technology, make up for its own shortcomings, and then develop its own set of things after digesting it.

Volkswagen's size is there, and true equality will never be achieved in the cooperation between the two parties. Xiaopeng is too small, and the technology it has is at best a stepping stone to help Volkswagen gain access to the new energy market. When Volkswagen also has the "technical foundation" for electrification, the cooperation relationship between the two parties will inevitably change.

At this stage, this possibility is still relatively high.

The models of the cooperation between the two parties are equipped with Volkswagen logos, and they are "Volkswagen's cars". Consumers who buy these models will also think that they are Volkswagen's technology. Xiaopeng, as a technology provider, can only work behind the scenes.

This is different from the cooperation between Toyota and BYD. What BYD provides to Toyota is just blade batteries, e-platforms and the like. It is more like a supplier, and BYD is too large to be "hollowed out" by Toyota. Xiaopeng is different. It actually only has those few things in its hands, and if it gives them away, it will have nothing.

At this stage, Xiaopeng can only get money from the cooperation between the two parties, that is, technology revenue. In the first quarter, Xiaopeng's revenue from Volkswagen was about 400 million yuan.

It may not be a problem for Xiaopeng to give its technology to some small manufacturers, but Volkswagen is a giant. It is not that it does not have the ability to develop electric vehicles, but it is temporarily behind. After obtaining Xiaopeng's core technology, Volkswagen is likely to have other interests.

People's hearts can change overnight, let alone such a big business.

This kind of example is actually very common in the business world. Huawei has cooperated with Leica for many years, but the cooperation was terminated in 2022. Subsequently, Huawei launched its own imaging brand XMAGE. The industry generally believes that after several years of cooperation with Leica, Huawei has surpassed Leica in mobile phone photography technology.

To exaggerate a little, the cooperation between Xiaopeng Motors and Volkswagen is risky. It took $700 million from Volkswagen and sold 4.99% of its shares. In addition, it handed over its core technology for some not-so-high technical service fees. As a result, it taught the apprentice and starved the master. If the cooperation between the two parties fails, even this income will be cut off; if the cooperation between the two parties goes smoothly, Xiaopeng will continue to empower Volkswagen, and it is difficult to say that the final result will be absolutely beneficial to Xiaopeng.

The key to the problem is actually the same old problem: a blacksmith must first sharpen his own tools. Xiaopeng itself is too small. Although it has core technology, the sales of its own new energy vehicle models have been sluggish, and there is no hope of solving the problem of long-term losses in the short term. Apart from technology, it does not actually have the qualifications to be on par with Volkswagen.

But for Xiaopeng, this is the best outcome so far. No matter what risks there are in the future, it needs to survive now. The financial support from Volkswagen can help Xiaopeng overcome difficulties in a short period of time. At least at this stage, Volkswagen is a good partner.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.