Volkswagen's Seat brand to develop electric car platform in China with JAC

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen's Spanish Seat brand said it will develop an electric car platform together with China's Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd (JAC), as part of a broader Asian expansion push.

A battery electric vehicle platform will be developed for production in China and JAC Volkswagen will introduce the Seat brand in China by 2021, Seat said.

"This agreement with Volkswagen Group China and JAC enables us to move forward with the strategic development to introduce the Seat brand into China and take a further step towards the company's globalisation strategy," Seat President Luca de Meo said in a statement.

 

The construction of the JAC Volkswagen R&D centre will start before the end of 2018 and will focus on key areas such as connectivity, autonomous driving and other future strategic directions, Seat said.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)