CEO of Volkswagen China: openness and competition drives innovation and future

On April 11, 1983, a hand-built car slowly ran out of an old factory in Anting in northwestern Shanghai. On it there was a board saying “VW-SANTANA.” Three years later, in 1986, the annual output of Santana sedans made in China reached 10,000, while in 1978, the annual output of the Shanghai brand sedan - China's largest sedan brand - was only 5,000, less than the daily output of any foreign carmaker. Worse still, Chinese cars like Shanghai brand sedans were outdated compared to the West as they were assembled manually.

(First VW Santana in China, assembled in Shanghai Car Factory on April 11, 1983. Photo provided by Volkswagen Group China)

Entering the 21st century, though production of old Santana cars has stopped, they have left an indelible mark in China’s history. Thanks to China’s reform and opening up, Santana became a household name across the country.

This is the legend of Volkswagen in China. Today, 40 years after the policy of reform and opening up was launched, while looking back on the group’s history in China, Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, said he has tremendous respect for a forward-thinking and strategic decision made in the 1980s.

(As President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann is a member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.)