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Audi's "third" vehicle joint venture in China was officially born. On October 13th, the 2020 Sino-German Automobile Conference was held in Changchun Red Flag Hall. Audi and China FAW Group formally signed the "Audi FAW High-end New Energy vehicle Cooperation Project Memorandum of understanding", announcing the establishment of a new energy joint venture to introduce the PPE platform, a high-end electric vehicle platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche for large-scale electric vehicles.

In the vehicle joint venture and cooperation project, Audi already owns shares in two joint ventures in China, namely FAW-Volkswagen Co., Ltd. And SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. Among them, Audi Motor Co., Ltd. of Germany holds 10% of the shares in FAW-Volkswagen and 1% in SAIC Volkswagen.

Since the first Audi 200 car was taken off the line in FAW-Volkswagen assembly workshop in 1996, Audi has cooperated with FAW for 24 years. Now the establishment of a new joint venture between the two sides is also a measure to deepen cooperation between the two sides. At the same time, Audi will have a higher shareholding and dominance in the new joint venture with FAW than the previous two joint ventures.

It is understood that the new energy joint venture between Audi and FAW will focus on high-end electric vehicles, build a new factory and plan to introduce the PPE platform, which is a high-end electric vehicle platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche for large electric vehicles. The first domestic model is scheduled to be put into production in 2024.

The PPE platform will be mainly used for medium, large and full-size luxury electric models, with adjustable body length and width, and battery packs of different sizes; the standard model motor is rear, and front axle motors can be installed to form full-time all-wheel drive, and adapt to air suspension, rear wheel steering and other functions.

Werner Eichhorn, president of Audi China, said: "this is another important milestone in our electrification strategy in the Chinese market." Audi is continuing to implement its commitment to the Chinese market and long-term partner FAW, and we will strive to take this cooperation to a new level. "

At present, the first model of SAIC Audi will be launched in 2022, while FAW Audi New Energy Joint Venture launched its first product in 2024, so Audi's important partner in China is still FAW-Volkswagen.

In the electric model project, FAW-Volkswagen Audi has launched Audi Q2L e-tron, while domestic Audi e-tron has been offline in Changchun plant and is expected to be listed by the end of the year. Audi plans to launch six electric models in China by the end of 2021, in addition to its existing electric models. Audi plans to increase its share of electric models in China to about 1/3 of total sales by 2025.

The Audi brand sold 690000 vehicles in China in 2019, below BMW Group's 723700 and Mercedes-Benz's 702000 in China, according to the data. In the first nine months of 2020, Audi delivered a total of 512081 new cars in China, an increase of 4.5 per cent over the same period last year, of which 477497 domestic models were sold, up 7 per cent from the same period last year.

We will continue to pay close attention to the news of Audi's "third" joint venture vehicle manufacturing company.

According to official sources, FAW-Volkswagen Co., Ltd. was established on February 6, 1991. It is a large-scale passenger car production enterprise jointly operated by China first Automobile Co., Ltd., Volkswagen AG, Audi Automobile Co., Ltd. and Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd. The production capacity layout of FAW-Volkswagen has covered Changchun in Northeast China, Chengdu in Southwest China, Foshan in South China, Qingdao in East China and Tianjin in North China. It has eight professional production plants: car factory 1, car factory 2, car factory 3, car factory 4, car factory 6, powertrain department and stamping center.

FAW-Volkswagen owns Audi, Volkswagen and Jetta brands, among which Audi products include Audi e-tron, Audi A6L, Audi A6L New Energy, Audi Q5L, Audi A4L, Audi Q3, Audi A3 Limousine, Audi A3 Sportback, Audi Q2L, Audi Q2L e-tron and so on.

SAIC Volkswagen Motor Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between SAIC Group and Volkswagen Group. Audi Automobile Co., Ltd. acquired 1% stake in SAIC Volkswagen Group in June 2018. SAIC-Volkswagen already has the qualification to produce Audi in terms of regulations and industrial policies. At present, SAIC Audi project is moving forward as planned, the first model put into production is Audi A7L, and a medium and large SUV is planned.

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