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According to several media reports, the SAIC Volkswagen Anting production base was officially renovated on May 24, and the newly upgraded factory will become the exclusive production base for Audi's new generation of luxury intelligent electric products. this also indicates that the cooperation project between SAIC and Audi is on the fast track. According to the plan, SAIC-Volkswagen Anting plant plans to start production of Audi's new model in ten months.

On May 20, 2024, SAIC and Audi announced that they would jointly develop a new platform focused on the Chinese market and develop high-end intelligent networked vehicles based on this platform. The first batch of models cover Class B and C, and are three pure electric models. Among them, the first pure electric car will be introduced to the market in 2025. Earlier, on July 26, 2023, SAIC and Audi signed a memorandum of understanding that the two sides will combine their respective advantages to speed up the development of SAIC Audi's new electric models to meet the needs of Chinese users for high-end electric smart cars. At that time, the two sides announced that they would cooperate based on the pure electric exclusive serialization platform SAIC Nebula, which can derive different levels of pure electric exclusive architecture, covering compact cars, medium-sized cars, luxury cars and sedans in the global market, such as sports cars, SUV, MPV and other multi-level and multi-category vehicle products.

In the face of the upward impact of new forces and Chinese brands, traditional luxury brands re-excavate their century-old technology accumulation and historical accumulation, on the one hand, speed up the offensive in electric vehicle products, on the other hand, strengthen brand ties with users, and try to awaken the luxury brand identity in the new era. As early as 2021, Audi released a new energy strategy, that is, the "Vorsprung 2030" strategy. According to the plan, Audi will launch 20 new cars by 2025, 10 of which are pure electric cars; only pure electric cars will be launched in 2026 and diesel locomotives will be phased out in 2033.

Audi's ambitious new energy strategy actually relies on Volkswagen, because the Volkswagen Group has four electric vehicle platforms that are officially unmatched by domestic and foreign automakers. However, Audi did not perform well in the new energy vehicle market by 2023, largely because it was dragged down by electrified platforms. At present, Volkswagen provides Audi with four electrified platforms, including MEB, MLB evo, J1 and PPE, of which MEB and MLB evo are "oil-to-electricity", which has little competitiveness in today's new energy market. The pure electric models launched by Audi so far in the Chinese market include FAW Audi's Q2L e-tron, Q4 e-tron, e-tron, e-tron Sportback, RS e-tron GT, e-tron GT quattro and SAIC Audi's Q5 e-tron. Among them, the highest sales volume is Q4 e-tron, which is based on the MLB evo platform of "oil to electricity". It sold 2330 vehicles in 2023.

Both J1 and PPE are jointly developed by Porsche and Audi. J1 is an electric sports car platform, so Audi can only count on PPE. It is understood that the Audi Q6L e-tron is the first model based on the PPE platform. The new car will be mass-produced at Audi FAW's new plant in the fourth quarter of this year, and the first products are expected to be delivered to customers in 2025. In addition to the Audi Q6 e-tron, there are also Audi A6 e-tron models based on PPE, but it is not easy for these models to achieve good results in the Chinese market.

It is not difficult to see that although Audi has four electrified platforms to choose from, PPE is the only one that is really competitive. It is not easy to say whether PPE can take the lead. Whether it is Audi Q6L e-tron or Audi A6 e-tron, these models will face sales pressure from Chinese electric car brands.

That's why Audi is working with SAIC. Audi's partnership with SAIC can help Audi launch electric models quickly. For Audi, whether it is independent research and development or cooperation with Chinese car companies, the most important thing is to see whether Audi's internal (team, concept) and external (technology, marketing and brand image) have completed the transformation. In the era of new energy, Audi is going on a difficult long march.

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