Volkswagen, is to sell all its operations in Uyghur Autonomous Region, it said on Nov. 27, 2024, after years of mounting pressure to abandon its presence in a region where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population.
VW and SAIC will sell their plant in Uyghur Autonomous Region to Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Certification (SMVIC), a unit of state-owned Shanghai Lingang Development Group, which will take on all its employees, they said.
Under the terms of the deal, for which financial details were not disclosed, SMVIC will also take over SAIC/VW’s test tracks in Turpan, Uyghur Autonomous Region. Volkswagen will then no longer have a presence in Xinjiang.
Stakeholders including the state of Lower Saxony, Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder, welcomed the sale.
Top 20 shareholder Deka Investment, one of several investors who had been pressuring the carmaker to pull out of Uyghur Autonomous Region, said the exit would bring controversial discussions to an end with minimal financial impact.
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