16 | Monday, July 19, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY 10 | Wednesday, March 6, 2019 CHINA DAILY

Smart technologies’ influence driving Short Torque EU to ban sales of petrol cars from 2035 The European Union proposed an effective ban on the sale of new carmakers to make difficult choices petrol and diesel cars starting in 2035 on Wednesday, aiming to speed up the switch to zero-emis- Manufacturers facing question of whether to sion electric vehicles as part of a outsource on software or to develop in-house broad package of measures to combat global warming. The EU executive, the European Commis- By LI FUSHENG also bears the logo HI, representing sion, proposed a 55 percent cut in [email protected] Huawei Inside, and that is expected carbon dioxide emissions from to add to its appeal to young custom- cars by 2030 versus their 2021 lev- Carmakers are facing a dilemma ers who are increasingly proud of els, much higher than the existing in outsourcing their smart technolo- Chinese brands. target of a 37.5 percent reduction gy needs, as the role it plays in the A video clip shows the model, by then. cars of the future continues to grow which is claimed to be the result of in influence. 5,000 Huawei and engineers Volvo ups its shares in Some want the money- and time- working together, can navigate Polestar brand saving expedient offer, while others through busy urban traffic without worry overreliance may prove the help of a human driver. Volvo Cars has bought additional uncompetitive in the long run. Wang Jun, head of Huawei’s smart shares in Polestar, the electric-ve- , GAC’s young car unit, said the company has set a hicle maker controlled by China’s marque, is an example of the first target to launch driverless solutions , Volvo’s parent company. The type. GAC said last week that its around 2025. investment lifts Volvo’s stake to board has given the nod for Aion to He said it is also working to fur- 49.5 percent. It comes after Pole- partner with Huawei, which is vow- ther improve onboard functions. star raised $550 million in its first ing to “bring digital into every car”. Huawei is investing $1 billion in external funding round in April. The two will codefine and codevel- smart vehicle technologies this year. The purchase sees Volvo’s stake op a number of smart vehicles in “Vehicle cabins will become smart returning to the level it previously coming years. To be specific, the spaces. As for what people can do had, before the April funding chassis will be Aion’s, while all things there, there are boundless possibili- round, when Polestar received a that enable smart vehicle functions, ties,” Wang said. cash injection from Chinese inves- like the chips, the computing and While carmakers agree that smart tors Chongqing Chengxing Equity communication architecture and functions will be a major selling Investment Fund Partnership and the operating system, will be from point and software-based services SAIC showcases its products and technologies at the 2021 Shanghai International Automobile Industry Zibo. Huawei. for car users will become an impor- Exhibition in April. li fusheng / China Daily Aion said the first model, which tant stream of revenue, they are Program to boost will feature Level 4 autonomous divided on whether it is wise to com- functions, will roll off the assembly pletely outsource it to suppliers. meeting earlier this month. “We want to develop a leading ware engineers work for CARIAD in Spanish NEV sector line in late 2023. It will cost 780 mil- So far companies that have chosen SAIC, partner of GM and Volks- automotive software stack. And we China. Spain will invest 4.3 billion euros lion yuan ($120.65 million). to use one-stop solutions are smaller wagen, is investing heavily in electric will continue to invest in autono- Stephan Woellenstein, CEO of ($5.1 billion) to kick-start the pro- Aion is not the only carmaker that and less competitive carmakers that and smart vehicles, with a budget of mous driving and mobility services,” China, said duction of electric vehicles and is betting on Huawei’s technological wish to boost their fortunes by part- 300 billion yuan before 2025. said Volkswagen AG’s chief financial Volkswagen will not refuse coopera- batteries as part of a major nation- prowess and its vast number of nering with giants like Huawei, Its subsidiary, Z-One, is working officer Arno Antlitz. tion with technology companies but al spending program financed phone users and fans, who are esti- while large carmakers have been on an architecture capable of Level 4 The German carmaker estimates it would like to develop the core mostly by European Union recov- mated to love the seamless connec- working on their own solutions to functions, which will be unveiled in that around 60 percent of the soft- competence by itself. ery funds, the Spanish government tion of their phones and vehicles future mobility. 2023. It has also launched a digital ware it needs in a car will be devel- He said Volkswagen will not make said on Monday. Prime Minister that share the same operating sys- Chen Hong, chairman of China’s platform that functions like Google’s oped in-house. itself fully dependent on any suppli- Pedro Sanchez said the govern- tems. largest carmaker SAIC Motor, said in Android system for smart mobile Its automotive software company er. Otherwise, it means the compe- ment-run plan would include the Three months ago, at the Shang- the age of software and data-based phone makers and users. CARIAD aspires to develop a leading tence will move over to the supplier entire production chain, giving hai auto show, State-owned carmak- cars, one-stop package solutions Zu Sijie, chief engineer of SAIC, software platform by 2025, as a sin- side, which is not in the strategic grants to companies with the goal er BAIC’s premium brand Arcfox from suppliers will reduce carmak- said the company will roll out a fleet gle software backbone for all of the interest of any carmaker. of building the country’s first bat- unveiled a model it codeveloped ers to simply hardware companies. of 40-60 robotaxis later this year. group’s cars. “Cars will be like smartphones in tery plant and boosting manufac- with Huawei. “It is like we become flesh and Global giants including Volkswag- By 2030, up to 40 million vehicles the future … but we will make sure turing of electric vehicles. It features the company’s Harmo- they are the soul, and that is not en AG and GM have also been work- across brands will be operating on that our part on the car is at least as AGEnCIES-CHInA DAILy ny operating system, Kirin chips and acceptable to us. We want to retain ing on autonomous driving and the group’s software platforms. big as Huawei or Apple in their smart- autonomous driving solutions. It our soul,” said Chen at an investor other smart functions. Already today, around 1,000 soft- phones,” Woellenstein said. Govt to create circular economy for electric power batteries

By Cao YINGYING the battery recycling industry. that of the same period in 2020. [email protected] If the heavy metals contained in There were a 2,579 related com- power batteries are recycled panies registered in 2020, up 253.3 The Chinese government has improperly, it poses severe chal- percent year-on-year. There are cur- released a plan to reduce the lenges to the environment, which rently 15,000 enterprises related to impact that batteries used in new is against the eco-friendly inten- power battery recycling in China. energy vehicles have on the envi- tion of nEVs, insiders said. The power battery market nowa- ronment, as nEVs continue to grow Roy Lu, a senior industry ana- days is similar to the nEV market in the automotive sector as a whole. lyst at Gotion High-Tech, said it is years ago, which shows a positive The plan focuses on how batter- time to recycle the first batch of development trend but also needs ies’ remaining power is utilized aft- nEV batteries after the market’s more policy coordination and regu- er their primary use, as well as initial boom five to seven years lation to become more market-led, more effective recycling. ago. Lu said. According to a five-year plan for “The sales of new energy vehi- He said the industry should build developing the circular economy cles have maintained high growth, a responsibility mechanism and released by the national Develop- so it’s imaginable that it will be a cooperation standards covering ment and Reform Commission challenge for the industry,” Lu raw materials for batteries, car earlier this month, China will step said. companies, battery after-sales ser- up building a traceability manage- The number of nEVs on China’s vice and battery recycling. ment system for nEV batteries. roads has been rising by 1 million Workers assemble batteries at a plant in Huaibei, Anhui province. Battery suppliers and carmakers More measures will be taken to annually for the past three years. Wan shanChao / for China Daily have advantages in recycling bat- encourage nEV manufacturers to By the end of 2020, the country teries, he added, with high-quality set up recycling service networks had 4.92 million nEVs on its roads, battery enterprises having the cor- by themselves or in cooperation of which 4 million were electric of power batteries is usually about batteries will generate a market responding upstream and down- with upstream and downstream cars. The China Association of six to eight years. worth 100 billion yuan ($15.5 bil- stream resources of the industry. industry players. Automobile Manufacturers esti- The center forecasts that decom- lion) by 2030. Car companies have the responsi- The plan highlights the role of mates that nEV sales will surpass missioned power batteries will With such development pros- bility to establish a battery after-sales echelon utilization of power bat- 2.4 million units this year. reach 780,000 tons by 2025 and the pects, many battery recycling-relat- and recycling system. They have the teries, which refers to the utiliza- Data from the China Automotive power of the batteries needed to be ed companies have emerged. ability to require raw materials, bat- tion of the remaining capacity of Technology and Research Center recycled will reach 137.4 gigawatt- The statistics from QCC, an enter- tery manufacturers and professional power batteries in other areas. shows the country’s total of decom- hours, or around 110 tons. prise credit rating system, show third parties to jointly build a stan- Industry insiders said this move missioned power batteries reached According to a report by Ever- that 9,435 power battery recycling- dardized and environmentally will promote safety as well as some 200,000 metric tons by the bright Securities, the recycling of related companies were registered friendly battery recycling system, Lu greater commercial feasibility of end of last year, given the life span ternary and lithium-ion phosphate in the first half of this year, 26 times said. VW remains confident despite sales dip due to chip shortages

By LI FUSHENG age growth rate of 27 percent, shortages will continue well into SSP, and a new R & D center is cur- mainly because of chip shortages 2022, but said Volkswagen will not rently under construction. Chip shortages are taking their that are sweeping across the global 1.85 change its strategies in China, be Woellenstein said the first China- toll on Volkswagen AG’s production auto industry, said Volkswagen million they the SUV offensive or the electri- produced SSP-based vehicles will NOTICE OF CREDITORS’ MEETING new vehicles VW sold in China IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE in China, but a senior executive Group China CEO Stephan Woel- fication campaign. roll off the assembly line in 2026 or HONG KONG SPECIAL during the first half of this year ADMINISTRATIVE REGION expects sales in the country this year lenstein. Volkswagen has launched four of 2027, before the platform will be COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE to exceed those in pandemic-hit He said the carmaker had a pretty its electric ID models in 2021 and introduced into its two joint ven- BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS INTERIM ORDER APPLICATION 2020 as semiconductor supplies will strong start with a 61.5 percent sales another one is expected to join them tures FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC NO. 143 OF 2021 turn for the better from the third rise in the first quarter, but the situa- their production plans almost on a later this year. It expected the com- Volkswagen. Re: CHIANG CHI HO NOTICE is hereby given that the Creditors’ quarter and customer demand for tion turned for the worse from April daily basis. bined sales of these models to reach He estimated that sales of new Meeting summoned by interim order made on 9th its vehicles remain robust. to June, as it started to feel the full Woellenstein said the shortages 80,000 to 100,000 units by the end energy vehicles will continue grow- July 2021 to consider the proposal for a voluntary arrangement of the above-named debtor will be The group, which owns brands impact of the chip crisis. remain serious in July but will be of the year. ing fast in China. “By 2025, hopeful- held at the office of Wong Kwan & Co Limited of Unit 1218, Fortune Commercial Building, 362 Sha including Volkswagen, Audi and “We saw sluggish sales in Q2. It’s alleviated starting from August as The group unveiled its 2030 strat- ly, we will have an nEV market of 4 Tsui Road, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong on 6th August Skoda, sold 1.85 million vehicles in not because the Chinese customers the carmaker is turning to alterna- egy last week, with a focus on elec- or 5 million, and from 2026 to 2028, 2021 (Friday) at 11:00 a.m. Creditors can obtain a copy of (i) the Debtor’s China in the first half of the year. As suddenly didn’t like us. It’s simply tive suppliers. trification and software-based it may go up to 7 million or 8 million proposal, (ii) the summary of statement of affairs, the most popular international car- because we are massively affected by “With a strong quarter one and a services. Woellenstein said China units,” Woellenstein said. (iii) the nominee’s reports and comments on the proposal, (iv) a form of proxy, (v) a notice of claim maker, Volkswagen’s sales account- chip shortages,” Woellenstein said. normal quarter four, we will make it will play a crucial role in the cam- Statistics show that carmakers sold form and (vi) the important notice to the notice ed for roughly 18 percent of the He said production was affected that our overall sales for the brand paign. around 1.2 million new energy vehi- from the office of Wong Kwan & Co Limited of Unit 1218, Fortune Commercial Building, 362 Sha Chinese market. especially heavily in June on its and the group in 2021 will be higher The group’s wholly-owned sub- cles in the first half of the year, and the Tsui Road, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. However, its sales from January MQB platform, based on which than in 2020,” Woellenstein said. sidiary, Volkswagen Anhui, will China Association of Automobile Dated this 19th day of July 2021 to June went up 16.2 percent year- Volkswagen and Skoda cars are He warned the overall supply situ- grow into the local hub for Volks- Manufacturers expects their sales to Kwan Yiu Chung Nominee on-year, much lower than the aver- built, and the plants had to readjust ation remains volatile and general wagen’s latest electric car platform reach 2.4 million for the whole year.