(Yicai Global) Nov. 7 -- Shares in Sunwoda Electronic surged as much as 6.2 percent after the Chinese electric car battery giant said it has become a supplier to German auto manufacturer Volkswagen Group.

Sunwoda’s stock price [SHE:300207] closed up 1.6 percent at CNY26.47 (USD3.68) today. Earlier in the day it reached CNY27.69.

Unit Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery has been asked to supply battery pack systems to Volkswagen’s hybrid electric vehicles, the Shenzhen, southern Guangdong province-based company said yesterday. No further details such as purchase volumes, pricing and the starting date were given.

The deal marks Sunwoda’s entry into Volkwagen’s battery supplier pool and is an important milestone for the company as it turns the world’s best-known vehicle makers into customers, it said. Sunwoda already sells battery systems to both Japan’s Nissan and China’s GAC Group's hybrid electric vehicle products.

Electric car batteries have become big business for Sunwoda. Revenue soared more than five-fold in the first nine months from the same period last year to CNY7.8 billion (USD1.1 billion), making it the fastest growing of all the company’s businesses, according to the third-quarter financial report released last month.

The company logged the fastest growth in installed EV battery capacity in the world in September, surging more than five times from a year earlier to 1 gigawatt hour, according to South Korean market research firm SNE Research. In the first nine months it had an installed battery capacity of 5.9 GWh, with a global market share of 1.7 percent.

In September, the company commanded a 1.8 percent share of the globe’s EV battery market, ranking ninth in the world.

Editor: Kim Taylor