Sino-German Cooperation

VDA China represents the voice of the German automotive industry in China and promotes Sino-German cooperation from political, economic, and industrial angle. Since established in 2014, VDA China has conducted fruitful cooperation with Chinese counterparts in multi-fields cover the whole industry chain. The Sino-German cooperation has been developed not only on bilateral governmental level but also on industrial level from various aspects.

Sino-German Cooperation in Diversified Field

On the occasion of the 5^th German-Chinese Government Consultations in 2018, a Sino-German Automated Driving Event was hosted by the VDA, projects arising from German-Chinese cooperation activities were promoted, and automated driving functions were demonstrated on the Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin on July 9. The former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese former Premier Li Keqiang attended the presentation and witnessed signing of MoUs between the two countries.    

The MoU signed by three ministries (BMWK, BMDV, MIIT) targets on cooperation of automated driving and connectivity, to promote exchange and cooperation on regulation, standard, data collection & transfer, and on-road testing between the two countries. On industry level, Cooperation agreements were signed by the VDA and China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), to establish platforms and provide conditions for the cooperation between the automobile industries of the two countries in the field of ICV; the VDA and China National Technical Committee for Automotive Standardization (NTCAS) to establish a Sino-German working group to promote harmonization of regulations and standards at both international and domestic level.

Sino-German Working Groups and Projects

VDA China has been playing an important role not only leading several Sino-German working groups but also strengthening the Sino-German strategic cooperation via respective projects that are jointly conducted with the Chinese counterparts.

The Sino-German E-mobility platform was established in 2011 according to “Sino-German Joint Statement of Strategic Partnership on Electric Vehicles”. Since then, the VDA has been coordinating relevant topics and activities on behalf of the German automotive industry.

Under the Sino-German cooperative frame, VDA is leading the all-sided Sino-German Cooperation on ICV topics to accelerate transparency and mutual understanding on policy, regulation and standardization issues. To further explore the research and development of V2X technologies and relevant potential industrialized applications, VDA China carried out smart city project with CAICT in 2021 resulting in the release of White Paper Report and carrying out the validation test.

The VDA and NTCAS (SAC/TC 114/SC 34) were designated by the ministries to take the lead in full and in-depth cooperation on ICV standardization fields. To this end, communication mechanism was established to make standardization cooperation on ICV technological development.

Product Safety was a major topic that Germany and China have been working together since 2008 to promote the development of a bilaterally and internationally harmonized Quality Infrastructure (QI). Under the umbrella of the steering group of BMWK and SAMR, the VDA represents and coordinates its members at Technical Innovation & Harmonization and Risk Management.

To deepen the collaboration in policy and regulation research and ICV technology application, the VDA and CAAM jointly established Sino-German ICV Center in September 2020 in Jiading district, Shanghai, to present the common voice of both sides, and further improve the transparency of policy making process. (Please click here to learn more.)

The Common Voice of Sino-German Cooperation in Automotive Industry

As the voice of the German automotive industry in China, VDA China provides professional interpretation on specific Chinese automotive policies and regulations, in the format of position papers, consolidated papers, and various reports which have adopted by the German ministries as references during the Sino-German governmental consultation. The Sino-German reports that are jointly developed with Chinese counterparts, includes CAAM, CATARC, China SAE, China EV100 and CAICT etc. are well received by peers from both industries. (Please clink here to learn more.)  

Furthermore, a series of activities were conducted by VDA China and the Chinese counterparts every year since 2014, which were participated and well recognized by ministries, local governments, associations, enterprises, etc. VDA China creates platforms for the German automotive industry in China, on one hand, to exchange on a high-level networking base; on the other hand, to raise a common voice with the Chinese counterparts out of mutual interests. (Please click here to learn more.)