Shanghai Volkswagen joint venture renamed SAIC Volkswagen

The name of Volkswagen Group's partnership with SAIC Motor Corp. has been changed to SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co., or SAIC Volkswagen for short.The joint venture, equally owned by VW and SAIC, was previously known as Shanghai Volkswagen.The change is designed to enhance the joint venture's brand strength, the company said in a statement last week. But according to Chinese media, the change was requested by SAIC to promote its corporate image. SAIC Volkswagen sells Volkswagen and Skoda-brand vehicles.In July, SAIC's passenger vehicle joint venture with General Motors changed its name to SAIC General Motors, or SAIC-GM for short, from Shanghai General Motors.In China, Volkswagen also has a joint venture with China FAW Group Corp., which is known as FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co. That partnership distributes Volkswagen- and Audi-brand cars.In the first 11 months, the Volkswagen Group and its two joint ventures sold 3.2 million vehicles in China, down 3.6 percent from the same period last year.