CAPTION: Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. (picture alliance/Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/archive)
German carmaker Volkswagen is set to put more emphasis on doing business in China in the future, the company's CEO, Herbert Diess, said on Monday.
"The future of Volkswagen will be decided by the Chinese market," he told reporters in Beijing. Diess is taking over strategic leadership of Volkswagen's business in China for this month, before handing over to Stephan Wollenstein.
Diess said the move was due to significant changes currently taking place in China, which is now the world's biggest car market.
In recent years, carmakers have been increasingly focused on China as a hub for innovation as the country made significant developments in areas such as electric mobility and autonomous driving.
According to Diess, Chinese leadership is focused on making the country an "international powerhouse of the car industry."
Volkswagen valued creating "much closer ties" to Chinese technology companies, Diess said, adding that he would be spending twice as much time in China in 2019 than in the last year, when he was in the Asian country for 20 days overall.
Volkswagen had already announced massive investments in electric car technology in China at the end of last year. The Chinese government wants to have 5 million electric cars on its roads by 2020 - a goal it plans to achieve by subsidizing production and introducing limitations on combustion engines.
Last year, around 1 million electric cars were sold in China.
Notice: No person, organization and/or company shall disseminate or broadcast the above article on Xinhua Silk Road website without prior permission by Xinhua Silk Road.
A single purchase
