Global automakers deepening cooperation with Chinese NEV producers

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠More global automakers announced plans to forge deeper cooperation on new energy vehicles (NEVs) with Chinese automakers during the ongoing 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which kicked off in Beijing on Thursday and will last until May 4.

German automaker BMW announced on Friday an additional investment of 20 billion yuan (about 2.8 billion U.S. dollars) in its production base in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The automaker said the investment will be used for upgrading as well as technological innovation of the Dadong plant of BMW Group's joint venture in China, BMW Brilliance Automotive.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board for BMW, visited China in recent two weeks. Just concluded his trip to Beijing Auto Show, Zipse rushed to Shenyang to ink investments that will increase the company's development of new energy vehicles in the country.

"These two trips underline our confidence in China as a country, but also in its social, economic and industrial development. And I think with the program of new quality productive forces, that underlines, and we are investing more than 20 billion renminbi in the extension of our Dadong side, which is our oldest factory, to prepare for that future with the Neue Klasse," he said, referring to an NEV model set to launch in 2025.   Against the backdrop of rapid transformation in the new energy automobile industry, deepening cooperation has become a significant driver for industrial transformation and upgrading. Apart from German enterprises, automakers from other countries, such as the United States and Japan, are also actively expanding their investment cooperation in China.

"The development of automobiles in China, especially in the field of new energy vehicles, is leading globally. New technological pathways represented by the NEV industry are continually permeating into the lifestyles of global consumers. I believe this is a direction we should pursue, and we will strive towards it," said Li Hui, executive vice president of Lexus China.

Global automakers deepening cooperation with Chinese NEV producers

Airline companies in the Middle East have been opening new routes to China to cater to the soaring demand.

Dubai,  the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), alone has more than 100 flights every week to major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu and Wuhan.

To better meet the needs of passengers, several airlines in Dubai are planning to launch new routes to China. 

"It's very fast processed. It's very easy.  China is a very good country, very beautiful country. I've been to Shanghai. It's a beautiful city. Wuhan, I hear it's a very, very beautiful city.  I'm planning to go and visit,” said Muhammad, a Syrian tourist who has planned to take a plane from the Dubai International Airport to China.

Chinese airline companies are also planning to add more flights between China and Middle Eastern countries to facilitate people's traveling.  

China Southern Airlines, a leading Chinese airline, currently operates more than 20 weekly flights from UAE's Dubai, Saudi Arabia's Riyadh, Qatar's Doha to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, and it will launch two new weekly flights from Riyadh to Shenzhen in early June.

Middle Eastern airlines launch new routes to China amid soaring demand