In 2026, Volkswagen Group’s three joint ventures in China plan to launch five new models featuring this architecture, covering A- to B-class segments.
On January 28, Volkswagen Group China announced that the zone-controlled electronic/electrical architecture (CEA architecture), jointly developed with XPeng for the Chinese market, was delivered as scheduled by the end of 2025. The first Volkswagen-branded model based on this architecture, the ID. UNYX 07, has officially entered production at the same time at the Volkswagen Anhui factory.
Today, He Xiaopeng, CEO of XPeng, shared a group photo with Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, on social media, and posted a message congratulating the realization of the first collaborative achievement between XPeng and the Volkswagen Group.
He Xiaopeng stated: Over the past 18 months, the teams from both sides have worked side by side, ensuring the project was delivered on time and with high quality.
The CEA architecture was jointly developed by Volkswagen (China) Technology Company (VCTC), CARIAD China, and XPeng.
The architecture adopts a zone-controlled design, which can reduce the number of electronic control units (ECUs) by approximately 30%, significantly lowering system complexity.
Furthermore, the core advantage of the CEA architecture lies in its powerful scalability. It can cover vehicle models across all powertrain types, including pure electric, hybrid, and internal combustion engine. Through hardware-software decoupling and virtual validation technology, it increases overall vehicle development efficiency by 30% and reduces the development cost for key new models by 50%.
As the first model based on the CEA architecture, the ID. UNYX 07 is positioned as a mid-size sedan, with dimensions of 4853mm in length, 1852mm in width, 1566mm in height, and a wheelbase of 2826mm. It is reported that this vehicle was led by the Chinese team, achieving a complete development chain from the electronic/electrical architecture to full vehicle integration.
According to the plan, in 2026, Volkswagen Group’s three major joint ventures in China intend to launch five new vehicle models equipped with this architecture, covering the A to B segment markets.
The cooperation between Volkswagen and XPeng began in July 2023, when Volkswagen invested $700 million in XPeng, acquiring a 4.99% equity stake.
In April 2024, the two parties signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement for electronic/electrical architecture technology. In July of the same year, they signed a joint development agreement.
In August 2025, the cooperation was upgraded again, with the jointly developed electronic/electrical architecture set to be deployed on Volkswagen’s internal combustion engine and plug-in hybrid vehicle platforms in the Chinese market.
The production launch of the CEA architecture marks a substantive breakthrough in the “reverse joint venture” model.
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