At the recent 10th New Automotive Technology Cooperation Ecosystem Conference in 2025, Han Sanchu, Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group (China) and CEO of CARIAD China, delivered a keynote speech. He revealed that the first jointly developed vehicle model between Volkswagen Group and XPeng will officially launch on December 31 this year, achieving this milestone in just 18 months.

Han outlined Volkswagen Group's strategic shift in R&D approach. Previously, development decisions were centralized in Germany, with local teams primarily providing support. The most significant change this year is that China now holds decision-making authority for key areas including new energy vehicle development, platform architecture, electronic/electrical systems, and software development—granting substantial autonomy to the Chinese team.

In July 2024, Volkswagen Group and XPeng announced a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop cutting-edge electronic/electrical architectures for Volkswagen's CMP and MEB platforms in China. By August this year, the partners confirmed that this co-developed architecture would be integrated not only into Volkswagen's pure electric vehicle platforms but also deployed across its fuel-powered and plug-in hybrid platforms in China.

Han disclosed that the first vehicle featuring the CEA architecture developed with XPeng will roll off production lines at Volkswagen Anhui on December 31. "We've dramatically compressed the timeline—from architectural design to development, testing, and vehicle integration—completing the entire process in just 18 months," he stated.

The CEA 1.0 architecture addresses Volkswagen's technological gaps in electronic/electrical systems. Following the first model launch this year, four additional CEA-equipped vehicles will debut starting 2026. The upcoming CEA 2.0 architecture will expand horizontally, supporting vehicle classes from A to D segments. Notably, CEA 2.0 will mark Volkswagen's first architecture capable of accommodating pure electric, range-extended, and hybrid powertrains across all platforms. The architecture will undergo biennial upgrades, with CEA 2.0 launching in 2027 and CEA 3.0 following in 2029.