German engineer looks back on two decades working with China

During his time in China, Peter Lippold, an electrical engineer from Germany, has seen the country's automobile industry grow.

He works as the head of product management for B-class cars at FAW-Volkswagen Automotive, a Sino-German joint venture headquartered in Changchun, Jilin province.

"The growth of China's automobile industry has been really impressive," he said. "Many new Chinese companies have been founded, and FAW-VW has plenty of new competitors. A lot of people in China are able to buy a car, and you can see the result during rush hour in the form of traffic jams and parking problems."

Founded in 1991, FAW-VW employs a number of German experts, including Lippold.

The manufacturer is jointly managed by China's First Automotive Group Corp, Germany's Volkswagen and Audi, and Volkswagen (China) Investment.

In 2003, the year Lippold first arrived, the company was producing six models, but by last year that number had grown to more than 40, including many electric vehicles.

Lippold said that it is heartening that so many companies in China are developing electric vehicles but that there needs to be a change in consumer mindsets when it comes to choosing what car to buy.

"With electric vehicles, we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but only if the customer buys them," he said.

For Lippold, the development of electric vehicles in China has created many opportunities for both Chinese and foreign automobile manufacturers.

"It is also a big challenge for FAW-Volkswagen. As an enterprise that mainly produces gas-powered vehicles, we have had to change," he said.

Another challenge, albeit in a good way, is the increasingly sophisticated infotainment systems built into new cars.

"Thanks to wireless connections, infotainment systems come with many functions and are remarkable at helping the driver with navigation and orientation. But they also lead to people playing with the system, rather than concentrating on driving the car," he said.

In 1987, Lippold received a diploma in electrical engineering from Braunschweig Technical University in the northern German state of Lower Saxony.

Sixteen years later, he came to FAW-VW as an electrical engineer. He was placed in charge of electric vehicle development at the company, responsible for the development and localization of electric and electronic car parts.

He also helped his Chinese colleagues optimize processes and find solutions to problems.

"It was my first time in China, and I had no clear picture of the country. The new position was a challenge－a new culture, new language, new surroundings and a new way of life," he said. "But I like to learn new things."

He met his wife, a Chinese national who was teaching English, at the birthday party of a mutual friend. They now have a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.

After two years in Changchun, Lippold returned to Germany and was involved in the development of the Volkswagen Group's MQB platform, which allows the company to assemble any cars based on it across all of its MQB-ready factories.

He brought the platform to China in 2010 and visited several more times over the next six years.

In 2016, after several invitations, he returned to Changchun.

He said that he has a lot of good friends in China, including former colleagues, and that the country is developing on a large scale and is one of the biggest trade markets, home to so many industries.

Zhou Huiying contributed to this story.