On May 20 this year, Audi and SAIC signed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop a number of high-end smart electric vehicles and build the Advanced Digitized Platform focused on the Chinese market.
Recently, CEO of the Audi and SAIC Cooperation Project – Fermín Soneira – revealed that the electric concept car jointly built by Audi and SAIC as part of this cooperation will unveil in November, and the mass-produced version is expected to enter the market in the second half of 2025.
The production is expected to take place at the SAIC-Volkswagen Anting plant in Shanghai. Subsequently, within 18 months after the first car is launched, a SUV and a large sedan will follow, totaling three planned new models.
At this time, it is unknown whether the new models will adopt Audi’s four-ring logo. Although previously there were rumors that the new models will use the Audi name logo instead of the four-ring logo.
Why China?
According to Soneira, China is Audi’s largest market in the world and also Audi’s most important overseas market. Furthermore, Soneira pointed out that China’s younger customer groups have more demands for smart technologies such as autonomous driving and vehicle connectivity. Compared with Audi’s consumer groups in other global markets, which are basically between 55 and 60 years old, China’s customer groups are generally younger, with an average age of around 35 years old.
For the product strategy, Audi-SAIC focus more on high-end intelligence, targeting the younger generation in terms of design and intelligence, especially high-end customer groups who are willing to accept new technologies and new concepts.
Soneira also confirmed that the new models will not be a rebadged version of IM Motors’ (Intelligence in Motion) vehicles, given Audi-SAIC’s focus on high-end intelligence. Additionally, CATL is the battery supplier and Momenta is the intelligent driving solution supplier. IM Motors is an electric vehicle joint venture among SAIC, Alibaba, and ZhangJiang Hi-Tech. Momenta is an autonomous driving startup headquartered in Beijing.
Currently, the Audi A7L, Q5 e-tron, and Q6 are sold on the Chinese market via the Audi-SAIC partnership.
Source: VW Group China, QQ, CSVW, Sohu
