(Yicai) Aug. 15 -- Chinese new energy vehicle startup Xpeng Motors has expanded the scope of its partnership with German auto giant Volkswagen Group to fossil fuel and hybrid electric cars.

The industry-leading electrical/electronic architecture that the two companies agreed to jointly develop last year for VW’s electric vehicles in China will also be integrated into its fossil fuel cars and plug-in hybrid EVs, the Guangzhou-based carmaker announced today.

Xpeng and VW signed a deal in April last year to co-develop and integrate the former’s latest generation E/E architecture into the latter’s China Main Platform, using it in VW-branded EVs made in the country from 2026. In July, they said they planned to explore further cooperation in the future.

All of VW’s electric cars in China will be equipped with the E/E architecture co-developed with Xpeng by 2027, the Wolfsburg-based firm told The Paper today.

Promoting the installation of E/E architectures on vehicle platforms can help automakers achieve rapid software iteration and remote upgrades, as well as greatly shorten the development cycle of new car models, Xpeng noted.

An E/E architecture is an overall design framework for all electronic and electrical systems within the vehicle. It acts as the nervous system and command center of the car and is responsible for coordinating electronic hardware, software, network communication, and functional logic, enabling efficient synergy of all systems.

VW announced in 2023 that it would invest about USD700 million for a 5 percent stake in Xpeng. The pair has also cooperated in other areas, such as joint procurement and ultra-fast charging networks.

Editor: Futura Costaglione