3 weeks ago
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The German car maker has partnered with Chinese conglomerate SAIC to co-develop new models aimed at targeting younger, more tech-savvy Chinese customers.
Electric Cars
Audi has announced its plans to launch a Chinese-specific electric car brand aimed at drawing in younger customers in the domestic market.
The brand— dubbed AUDI, spelt in all capitals and without the signature four-ring logo— has developed a range of battery-powered cars in partnership with Chinese conglomerate SAIC, which also owns local manufacturers LDV and MG.
According to the announcement, AUDI is targeting younger premium customers who want more technological features in premium vehicles.
“Chinese premium customers are different from their international counterparts and have different expectations,” Audi CEO Gernot Döller, said in a media statement.
“They are younger than in the rest of the world. They are more tech-savvy," he added.
Döller said the partnership between Audi and SAIC will see the development of a joint platform that “will be the basis for a new generation of state-of-the-art intelligent connected vehicles exclusive to China".
While the German luxury car maker has yet to officially announce the first model under the AUDI venture, an electric station wagon named the AUDI E Concept was recently unveiled at an event in Shanghai.
According to UK-based motoring website Autocar, the battery-powered AUDI E wagon is expected to start production in 2025 “as the first of three new AUDI models”, with a saloon and SUV set to follow in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The AUDI E Concept sits on a dual-electric motor drivetrain with a maximum output of 570kW and 800Nm, which the car maker claims is capable of a 0-100km/h sprint in 3.6 seconds.
The battery-powered station wagon is powered by 100kWh battery and has a claimed CLTC range of 700km.
In terms of dimensions, the AUDI E station wagon measures 4870mm in length, 1990mm in width and 1460mm in height. For context, the battery-powered concept is slightly larger than the Audi A4 allroad wagon (4762-4770mm long, 1847mm wide, and 1446-1485mm tall).
Despite its EV focus in China, Audi previously announced it softened its electric vehicle plans globally, with the a full EV line-up taking “longer than anticipated”, as previously reported by Drive.
Instead, Döller said the German luxury brand will instead prioritise developing plug-in hybrid powertrains for future models.
“Within the Volkswagen Group, we recognised early on that plug-in hybrids were a relevant project technology and now we see that the bridge is longer than we initially thought,” Döller previously told media.
“We see right now a slowly negative trend in battery-electric vehicles, but there are still positive growth rates regarding battery-electric vehicles, so it’s just that the growth rates have slowed down,” he added.
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Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
