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On July 11, as to whether Audi bought an electric car platform in China, Audi China said: "Audi has been committed to contributing to the development of China's automobile industry over the past 35 years. Adhering to the'in China, for China 'strategy, Sihuan Brand firmly implements its commitment in China and promotes mutually beneficial and win-win localization development. As we all know, China's auto market is in a period of greatest change in history. Audi will work with all parties to formulate a strategic approach to create a successful future. "

Audi is considering buying an electric platform license directly from local electric car companies to shorten the development time of its models in response to competition from China's new energy car track, German media "Automobilwoche" reported.

According to Audi's official response, it has almost confirmed reports that it has licensed electric platforms from local electric car companies. Officials have not said which Chinese electric car company Audi will cooperate with, but the industry is more inclined to BYD, which is currently the largest new energy car manufacturer in the country. According to this reasoning, BYD e platform 3.0 is almost the only answer, coupled with the fact that FAW and BYD have jointly established a Fudi new energy power battery project factory to be delivered at the end of August, which makes the credibility of "Audi + BYD" to a higher level. Of course, everything requires further official confirmation and disclosure.

At present, China is Audi's largest single market in the world, but it has underperformed its competitors in the Chinese market. Oliver Blume, chief executive of Volkswagen Group, admitted that the Audi brand is lagging behind its competitors, especially in electric vehicles, and promised to revive Audi's highlight moment in the future. Oliver Blume said: the group is highly dependent on the Chinese market, but at present the pure electric vehicle product line is not competitive in the Chinese market. More worryingly, it lags behind its original ability.

As one of the luxury brands of Volkswagen Group, Audi does not have its own electric vehicle platform, and its electric vehicles are based on Volkswagen Group Electric platform. At present, Volkswagen Group has four electric vehicle manufacturing platforms, namely: the improved MLB evo platform based on the modular vertical platform; the J1PMEB pure electric platform developed by Porsche for Taycan; and the PPE platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche for medium and large high-end vehicles.

Audi's sales performance is also lacklustre on the track of new energy vehicles. At present, Audi's new energy vehicles sold in China include Q2L e-tron, A6L e-tron, Q4 e-tron, e-tron, Q5L e-tron and so on, but the sales performance is not excellent. Data from the Federation show that in the first half of the year, the cumulative sales of Q4 e-tron, Q5 e-tron, A6L plug-in hybrid, e-tron and Q2 e-tron were 8982, 2119, 1421, 229 and 98 respectively.

For Audi, 2023 is a critical year for transformation. In March, Audi China's official Wechat released future-oriented production plans. Starting from 2026, Audi will only launch pure electric vehicles for the global market. By 2033, the production of internal combustion engine models will be phased out, when Audi's own production base around the world will be put into the production of electric vehicles.

At the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, Wen Zeyue, president of Audi China, said, "from this year, Audi will launch the largest product offensive in global history, which is also the most important offensive for future transformation." According to the plan, Audi will launch 20 models worldwide in the next three years, 10 of which are pure electric vehicles.

Audi FAW New Energy vehicle Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Audi FAW), which was established in March 2021, is regarded as the key for Audi to expand its lineup of electric vehicles in China and even around the world. It is understood that Audi FAW's first PPE plant started in Changchun in June 2022, with a total investment of more than 18 billion yuan and an annual production capacity of 150000 vehicles. After the completion of the plant, Audi A6 e-tron and Audi Q6 e-tron series of three models will be the first to go into production. Among them, Audi Q6 e-tron, the first mass production model based on PPE platform, will be unveiled in the second half of this year. In addition, Audi has promised that 2/3 of the company's expenditure (about 28 billion euros, 205.22 billion yuan) will be invested in future electrification and digitization from 2023 to 2027.

When the new energy vehicle market is in the direction of Skyworth, Audi has to change and transform. At present, Audi already has three joint ventures in China, including FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Audi and Audi FAW. Audi has more dominance in Audi FAW, which will focus on the development of new energy vehicles. According to Audi's new energy strategy, Audi will invest 35 billion euros by 2025, its pure electric models will reach 20, and about 1/3 of the cars delivered worldwide will come from new energy vehicles; starting from 2026, Audi's new models launched worldwide will all be pure electric models; by 2033, Audi will phase out the last batch of internal combustion engine models and comprehensively accelerate the brand electrification transformation.

Oliver Blume said that Audi's new products, which will be launched next year, will bring huge opportunities for brands. In 2024, Audi will launch the Q6 e-tron, Audi's first electric car based on the Volkswagen PPE architecture, built on the same platform as the Porsche Macan EV. According to Oliver Blume, Audi's renaissance will focus on the faster development of electric vehicles. He stressed that the brand's sports models have great potential in this area.

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