Asia Tech Wire (Aug 16) -- Volkswagen has centralized the research and development of pure electric vehicles in China to Volkswagen China Technology Company (VCTC).

Its latest report says that this round of restructuring will further integrate Volkswagen China's pure electric vehicle R&D into VCTC in Anhui province.

Along with this restructuring, a large number of personnel will relocate to VCTC in Anhui or other operations, while its Beijing R&D center retains some hybrid project development.

Volkswagen's three joint ventures in China, Volkswagen Anhui, SAIC Volkswagen and FAW Volkswagen, will also take over the production and sales of new cars developed by VCTC.

According to market sources, Volkswagen's future EVs in China will be built on two platforms, the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) and the China Main Platform (CMP).

The MEB platform is Volkswagen's general-purpose pure electric platform for global models, while the CMP platform is specially developed for the Chinese market.

Both platforms will apply the China Electrical Architecture (CEA) electrical/electronic architecture jointly developed by VCTC, CARIAD and Chinese EV maker Xpeng.

"It's about moving VW's R&D 7,000 kilometers east', insiders said of the project, "and VCTC will become Oriental Wolfsburg." It should be noted that Volkswagen is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany.