(Yicai Global) Nov. 22 -- Volkswagen Group China will jointly invest more than EUR4 billion (USD4.4 billion) in China with its partners next year, 40 percent of which will go to the e-mobility field, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Beijing-based carmaker's outlays will encompass production, infrastructure construction, and electric vehicle research and development, and its spending on new energy vehicles is projected to surpass that on fuel vehicles in the next few years, Stephan Wöllenstein, VW China's chief executive, announced yesterday at the 2019 17th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition that runs from Nov. 22 to Dec. 1.

VW China has delivered over 42 million vehicles in China, of which it shipped 3.34 million units to Chinese customers from January to October, the firm announced yesterday, adding its market share has now risen to 19.5 percent.

"Next year we predict a stable total market environment, maybe moderate small growth," Wöllenstein said, Reuters reported.

This is not holding him back, however. The local unit he oversees of the Wolfsburg, Germany-based global auto juggernaut will unveil 14 brand-new NEVs by the end of this year, Yicai Global has learned. VW China plans to release 30 China-made e-cars before 2025.

The firm will commission two Chinese battery EV plants into service next year. The SAIC Volkswagen joint venture's Anting plant in Shanghai's western Jiading district recently started trial production after 12-month construction. That facility and the FAW-Volkswagen plant in Foshan, Guangdong province, which will begin turning out NEVs based on a modular electric drive matrix in October next year, has a 600,000-unit annual production capacity.

Editor: Ben Armour