Volkswagen is working flat out on converting towards e-mobility.
But the Wolfsburg-based company is not fast enough for China - much to the delight of Tesla boss Elon Musk.
Wolfsburg / Munich - The environmental requirements in China are becoming more and more stringent.
What represents a positive development for the country and population is associated with a show of strength for many manufacturers: After all, China has long been the most important sales market worldwide for Volkswagen and Co. - and the Middle Kingdom is fully committed to electromobility.
Although VW and CEO Herbert Diess are pushing ahead with the change into the electricity age with all their might, the car company in China is dependent on a deal to meet local environmental requirements.
For example, the German car company and its Chinese joint venture "FAW-Volkswagen" will acquire "Green Credits" from rival Tesla - and for an impressive sum.
And this is how the deal is made possible:
VW: Green Deal with Tesla
A system was designed for China to encourage car manufacturers to manufacture and sell less polluting vehicles.
The NEV (New Energy Vehicles) credits include savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, plus the production of electric cars or hybrid models.
In order to be able to comply with the legal requirements, VW finally enters into an exchange deal with US rival Tesla, which manufactures electric cars in a gigafactory in Shanghai.
With regard to pollutant emissions, the electrical pioneer has a “clean slate” and can therefore afford to sell excess NEV credits.
At the beginning of April, the Reuters agency reported for the first time about the multi-million dollar agreement between the auto giants, and there is now a specific figure: Tesla can then look forward to a payment of around 390 million US dollars (around 328,000 euros) from VW because of China.
VW and Tesla: tough competition in China
How lucrative the deal with carbon credits is for Tesla as a whole is shown by the fact that Elon Musk's company reportedly earned around 1.33 billion euros in 2020 with this business model.
On the home market of the USA, too, money was received from a competitor - Fiat Chrysler, which, along with Opel, belongs to the Stellantis Group.
At the same time, Volkswagen is expanding the production of electric cars in Asia in cooperation with FAW: more electric cars are to come onto the market in 2021.
In this regard, VW has room for improvement.
The Group's electric vehicles are not particularly popular in China.
Instead, SUV models with a combustion engine have so far been bought, while electric cars from other manufacturers are experiencing a boom.
Last year VW sold 2.16 million vehicles in China - out of over 25 million in total.
Jan Böhmermann likes to mess with the big guys.
The entertainer Volkswagen recently got down to business and drew a line from the Nazi era to the present.
(PF)
