China - November 11, 2024 Volkswagen expands presence in China by integrating supply chains (Voice_over) German carmaker Volkswagen is accelerating its expansion in China, the world's largest automobile market. Earlier this year, the group announced plans to expand its production and innovation hub in east China's Anhui Province, with a 2.5 billion euro investment. The deputy manager of Volkswagen's plant in Dalian said China is highly efficient and innovative, and its favorable business environment has given the industry an enormous boost. (Sound_bite) Sarel Breitenbach, deputy general manager, Volkswagen Group Components (Dalian): "A remarkable aspect of China is the extreme high speed of innovation, decision making, but also the execution. And this results in the rapid transformation of the entire automobile industry. China is a significant force in the development of even the global automotive sector. And the enthusiasm and the cooperation of the government authorities encouraging investment and growth has absolutely been phenomenal. All of these factors make it attractive for dynamic international companies to actively invest in China to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results." (Voice_over) With China's rapid transformation towards fully-connected electric mobility, the Group is actively realigning its fleet to meet changing needs. (Sound_bite) Sarel Breitenbach, deputy general manager, Volkswagen Group Components (Dalian): "The Volkswagen Group is actively advancing its 'In China, for China' strategy by continuously enhancing its local research and development capabilities but also exploring innovative cooperation models and further integrating into the Chinese automotive industry. We're convinced that diversity is a source of new value creation and that the competitiveness is a decisive factor for our company success." (Voice_over) Volkswagen has maintained its position as the best-selling international carmaker in China, with more than 3.2 million vehicles sold last year, up nearly 2 percent from 2022. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]