Major Joint Ventures and Collaborations in March: FAW and Leapmotor Sign Agreement; CATL and NIO Reach Strategic Battery-Swapping Partnership

On March 26, BMW Group officially announced a deepening of its strategic partnership with Alibaba Group. It is reported that the two parties will focus on technological areas such as AI large language models and intelligent voice interaction. The jointly developed AI engine will be deployed in BMW's new-generation vehicles in the Chinese market.

The strategy is based on empowering digital production and operations, centered on enhancing intelligent user experiences across all scenarios, and pivoted on fostering open innovation in the R&D field. It aims to accelerate BMW's 360-degree AI integration across the entire value chain in China, shaping long-term competitive advantages in the era of artificial intelligence.

On March 17, BMW China announced a cooperation agreement with Huawei Consumer Business Group. The two parties will engage in in-depth collaboration around the HarmonyOS ecosystem, bringing a series of digital service upgrades to BMW's Huawei HarmonyOS users.

According to the agreement, BMW will deeply integrate the HarmonyOS ecosystem in the Chinese market, launching digital services including BMW Digital Key, HUAWEI HiCar, and My BMW App. Additionally, it will develop diversified smart applications and functions based on HarmonyOS NEXT, focusing on high-frequency scenario needs.

BMW has announced that the BMW Digital Key feature, developed based on HarmonyOS NEXT, will be launched within the year. The deeply integrated HUAWEI HiCar will be first introduced in locally produced BMW Neue Klasse models by 2026.

For BMW, these two collaborations will help accelerate its intelligent transformation in the Chinese market and enhance brand competitiveness.

On March 17, China FAW and Volkswagen Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Germany. Upholding the "In China, For China" strategy, they jointly defined the new model plans for FAW-Volkswagen, further enriching the product lineup of FAW-Volkswagen.

According to the cooperation agreement, starting from 2026, FAW-Volkswagen's Volkswagen brand and Jetta brand will add 11 new models tailored for the Chinese market, including 6 pure electric models, 2 plug-in hybrid models, 2 range-extended models, and 1 fuel model. The sub-brand Jetta will achieve electrification.

China FAW and Volkswagen Group have had a long-standing foundation of cooperation, and the strategic cooperation agreement signed in Germany this time represents a further deepening of their partnership.

On March 11th, FAW-Audi and Zhongsheng Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties will collaborate in areas such as dealer network development, synergy in new energy business, pilot projects of innovative models, and enhancement of user experience.

It is reported that in addition to planning to jointly establish at least 10 new sales outlets by 2025, the two parties will also collaborate on innovative business models such as new energy development and the implementation of new business scenarios.

This not only helps to enhance FAW Audi's sales capabilities and market share but also further optimizes its sales network layout.

On March 3rd, FAW Group and Zero Run Automobile held the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation in Changchun. Both parties will carry out strategic cooperation in the field of new energy vehicles, aiming to strengthen technological integration, gather advantageous resources, and jointly enhance product competitiveness.

It is understood that this strategic cooperation has two dimensions: first, both parties will fully leverage their respective technical accumulations in the field of R&D to jointly develop new energy passenger vehicles and collaborate on components, enhancing product competitiveness through the integration of their technologies; second, both parties will further explore the feasibility of deepening capital cooperation, so that both sides can achieve resource synergy across the entire industry chain through capital collaboration.

This cooperative model is expected to become a new trend in the future development of the automobile industry.

On March 2nd, Geely Automobile announced in a statement that its affiliate Zhejiang Geerui, along with Liangjiang Industry Fund, Chongqing Industry Mother Fund, Chongqing Machi, Lotus Robotics, Qianli Technology, and River & Ocean, conditionally agreed to establish a joint venture to engage in intelligent driving business.

As understood, the total capital contribution of the contracting parties to the joint venture is 4.7515 billion yuan, of which 200 million yuan is the registered capital of the joint venture. After the closing, Zhejiang Geely Ride or its designated entity, Chongqing Machi, Thousand Mile Partnership Enterprise, Lotus Robotics, and the employee incentive platform will respectively hold 30%, 30%, 30%, 5%, and 5% equity interests in the joint venture.

The establishment of this joint venture further highlights Geely Automobile's emphasis and investment in intelligent driving technology.

On March 19, Magna officially announced a deep strategic cooperation with NVIDIA. According to the agreement, NVIDIA's DRIVE AGX platform will be deeply integrated into Magna's next-generation advanced technology solution system. Magna will rely on the DRIVE Thor chip to carry out the development and testing of the latest active safety solutions from L2+ to L4 levels.

The cooperation project between the two parties mainly focuses on solving the complex problems of computing resource availability and performance when integrating advanced driver - assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving (AD) and in - car artificial intelligence functions, and is committed to providing system solutions with scalability, flexibility and customizability to meet specific market demands and regulatory requirements.

As the automotive industry transitions towards electrification and intelligence, autonomous driving technology has become a key area of focus for major component suppliers.

On March 17th, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with NIO in Ningde, Fujian. The two parties will jointly create the world's largest battery swapping network and promote the unification of industry technical standards, leading the new energy vehicle industry towards a new stage of high-quality development.

On this basis, both parties will carry out capital cooperation. CATL is advancing a strategic investment of no more than 2.5 billion yuan in NIO Energy, further consolidating their strategic partnership. Through technology exchange, capital and business cooperation, and other means, both parties aim to achieve an industry contribution greater than 1+1=2.

In addition, Ningde Times will support the development of NIO's battery swap network. The new models developed by NIO's Firefly brand will gradually adopt the standard and network of NINGDE TIMES' chocolate swap batteries. Both parties' swap networks will adopt a "dual-network operation" model, jointly providing more convenient and efficient swap experiences for swap EV owners, further enhancing the convenience of pure electric travel.

This cooperation will enable both parties to complement each other’s strengths in technology, resources, and market, jointly promoting the development and application of swap battery technology.

On March 6, ECARX announced a partnership with the Volkswagen Group to provide advanced smart cockpit solutions for global models under the group's Volkswagen and ŠKODA brands.

According to the cooperation agreement, ECARX will provide Volkswagen with a complete intelligent cockpit solution, including the ECARX Antora® 1000 computing platform and the ECARX Cloudpeak cross-domain software platform. The first batch of vehicles resulting from this collaboration will be launched in two major emerging markets, Brazil and India, with potential expansion into more markets in the future.

This collaboration not only further expands ECARX's global market share but also adds new momentum to Volkswagen's intelligent transformation.