Volkswagen explored a potential partnership with BYD around August 2022, shortly after Ralf Brandstätter became the CEO of Volkswagen China. The German automaker considered using the BYD Dolphin platform for its Jetta brand vehicles to accelerate its development in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
During the due diligence process, Volkswagen employees reviewed BYD's financial data and expressed surprise at the manufacturer's significantly lower production costs. Despite these discussions, BYD showed no interest in pursuing a formal partnership with the company.
Volkswagen adopted a strategy internally referred to as 'marriage and divorce' to address its lagging sales and technical gaps in China. The approach involved forming alliances with local firms to acquire expertise and technology, with the intention of exiting the partnerships once the necessary knowledge was gained.
In addition to the talks with BYD, Volkswagen explored a potential collaboration with Leapmotor in 2022. However, that deal did not materialize for the German manufacturer, as Leapmotor eventually signed a partnership agreement with Stellantis later that same year.
