VW Signs Agreement With BYD, May Work Together on Hybrid and Electric Cars

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2,054 views May 27, 2009

VW Polo BlueMotion

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Volkswagen has teamed up with BYD to explore their options of forming a partnership for production of hybrid and electric vehicles.

The agreement, technically called of memorandum of understanding, states that both companies will work together to see if a partnership for developing hybrid and electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion technology could be beneficial to both involved parties.

The deal was signed last week by Chairman of the Board for VW Dr. Martin Winterkorn and Chairman of the Board for BYD Wang Chuanfu.  The agreement was put into terms during a visit from BYD to Volkswagen.

During the visit, BYD execs got a chance to explore the Volkswagen facilities at the Elektrotaktion Technology Centre in Isenbuttel and then proceeded onto the test tracks at Wolfsburg.  During their stay, BYD execs got an opportunity to drive the Golf twinDrive and a Volkswagen prototype electric vehicle.

Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, a VW Member of the Board for Technical Development sums up the reason for the meeting of the two companies as follows, "Volkswagen will consistently expand its successful BlueMotion Technologies.  Hybrid and electric vehicles will play an increasingly important role, of course.  Particularly for the Chinese market, potential partners such as BYD could support us in quickly expanding our activities."

Source:  China Post