(24 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 24 April 2024
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
1. Various of Audi Q6 L e-tron unveiled at Volkswagen Group Media Night
2. Various of Lamborghini Urus on display
3. Audience taking photo
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG:
“For China, we have decided on a clear target picture 2030. Our aim is to remain the strongest of the international car manufacturers in China and to continue to rank among the top three automakers in the country. This is an ambitious goal and the road to get there will be tough.”
5. Wide of Blume speaking
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG:
“China is a market full of special champions, and no other region of the world has a transformation of the automotive industry that is as fast-paced as in China. This market has become something of a fitness center for us. We have to work harder and faster to keep up with the dynamics of the market, and we are ready to do so.”
7. Various of unveiling of Bentley Batur
8. Pull out from Bentley logo to stage
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ralf Brandstätter, Board Member of Volkswagen AG for China:
“From 2026 onwards, we will offer the next generation of intelligent-connected vehicles (ICV). By 2030, we will be offering at least 34 electric cars. In addition, we are transforming our strong ICE fleet into new energy vehicles using state-of-the-art hybrid drives, and we are making them as smart as BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles).”
10. Volkswagen ID. CODE on display
11. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) He Xiaopeng, CEO of Guangzhou Xiaopeng Automotive Technology:
“I’m quite looking forward to creating a new model of cooperation between China’s local AI technology and Volkswagen in various sectors including hardware, high-quality products and globalization over the next 40 years.”
12. Screen showing Ducati Diavel for Bentley first unveiled in China
13. Various of Diavel on display
14. Close of rear of Porsche Taycan
15. Various of Porsche Taycan on display and driving away
STORYLINE:
The Volkswagen Group on Wednesday unveiled seven key models from the group’s brands including Audi and Lamborghini at a media gathering on the eve of the opening of the 2024 Beijing Auto Show.
The four world premieres include the Audi Q6 L e-tron, the Lamborghini Urus, the new Porsche Taycan tailored to Chinese customers, and the China-focused concept car Volkswagen ID. CODE and ID. UNYX, while Bentley Batur and Ducati Diavel made their China debut.
The group would strive to “remain the strongest of the international car manufacturers in China and to continue to rank among the top three automakers in the country,” Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen Group, said at the event in Beijing.
Foreign automakers have been caught flat-footed in China by an electric vehicle boom that has shaken up the market, the world’s largest, over the last three years.
Taking a page from Tesla, China’s automakers and hundreds of start-ups have developed EVs loaded with tablet-like screens, AI-enabled information and entertainment options and autonomous driving capabilities.
That has left makers like Volkswagen, which sells about one-third of its cars in China, scrambling to develop new models for a very different market than back home, and expanding far beyond its roots in China as a maker of no-frills sedans used by taxi fleets.
Volkswagen is revamping its approach in China in a bid to overtake upstart Chinese EV competitors.
AP video shot by Borg Wong
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