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According to media reports such as "Automobile House", sources revealed that the brand new electric model of Audi of Volkswagen Group and SAIC Group will change its logo and will not hang Audi's iconic four-ring logo. The report pointed out that the reason for canceling the suspension of Audi's fourth Ring LOGO is for the consideration of brand image.

Audi declined to comment on the so-called "speculation" in response to the news, while SAIC said the electric cars would be "real" Audi with "pure" Audi genes.

It is worth mentioning that prior to this, there were rumors in the market that Audi's new electric vehicle in cooperation with SAIC would adopt an independent LOGO, and the new product would display the "audi" logo instead of Audi's fourth Ring Road LOGO, although this news has not been officially confirmed.

The cooperation between Audi and SAIC began on July 26, 2023, when Audi and SAIC signed a memorandum of understanding on deepening strategic cooperation, and the two sides will combine their respective advantages to speed up the development of SAIC Audi's new electric models. On May 20, 2024, the two sides formally signed a cooperation agreement to further strengthen local cooperation. At that time, officials revealed that the two sides would jointly develop a new platform focused on the Chinese market, the Intelligent Digital platform (Advanced Digitized Platform), and build a new generation of high-end Smart Internet models based on this platform. The first models will be three pure electric models covering the B-class and C-class market segments, equipped with the industry's top software and hardware. Among them, the first pure electric car will be launched in 2025 and nine models will be launched in 2029. This cooperation model has also significantly shortened the launch cycle of Audi products by more than 30%.

It is understood that Audi's new logo was released in November 2022 and was first carried on Audi Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback models. On the 22nd of last month, SUV, the flagship of the new Audi Q family, went on sale, including the new Audi Q7, Audi SQ7 and Audi Q8. The new car, equipped with Audi's newly designed flat four-ring logo, became one of the first Audi models to change labels in China.

The importance of car logo to car companies is self-evident. For car companies, the car logo is equivalent to the "face" of the brand, therefore, ‌ car companies will integrate the culture and design concept of the brand when designing the car logo, and to some extent, it also represents the image and spiritual totem of the brand, and changing the car logo is usually a part of reshaping the brand image. For Audi, the gold content of the fourth Ring LOGO logo is also very important, together with BMW's Blue Sky and White Cloud logo and Mercedes-Benz's Trident logo to form a lineup of well-known German luxury brands LOGO.

At present, Audi has three joint ventures in China: FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Audi and Audi FAW, in which Audi has more leading power in Audi FAW, which focuses on the development of new energy vehicles. It is seen as the key for Audi to expand its lineup of electric vehicles in China and the world. So far, according to the official website, 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. According to retail data, Audi's top-selling model in the first half of this year was Q4 e-tron, with sales of 7471, Q5 e-tron of 2200, e-tron of 304 and Q2L e-tron of only 7.

In short, Audi does not have any models that can support sales in the new energy vehicle market, and its performance in the new energy market obviously lags behind its competitors. "how to launch a new electric car recognized by consumers" has become an urgent issue for Audi.

As a traditional luxury brand, Audi knows that only by speeding up the pace of electric transformation can the possibility of being left behind be reduced. As to whether Audi and SAIC can jointly produce models recognized by the market and consumers, we still need to wait more time to give the answer. It is worth mentioning that Oliver Blume, chief executive of Volkswagen Group, has publicly promised to revive Audi's highlight moment in the future.

If the above news is true, will consumers still accept the new electric vehicles jointly operated by Audi and SAIC without Audi's iconic fourth Ring LOGO? It's worth watching.

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