Beijing (ZXZC)- FAW Group and Audi AG signed a memorandum of understanding about new energy vehicle (NEV) business on the sidelines of Sino-German Automobile Congress on October 13. 

Both sides will set up a NEV joint venture to make battery electric vehicles based on the Premium Architecture Electrification (PPE) platform in China. In 2024, the first model built on the PPE platform will be put into production in the new joint venture’s factory, followed by other electric vehicles. Audi said in a statement that the plans for the new company are still being developed.

Photo credit: Audi

As part of its electrification ambition, the luxury brand aims to see electrified vehicles account for one third of its sales in China by 2025. The platform was jointly developed by Audi and Porsche to expand their electrified product portfolio. The introduction of the PPE platform to China will help to smooth Audi’s transformation in the biggest auto market in the world. 

Audi already produces at four locations in China in the FAW-VW joint venture: in Changchun, Foshan, Tianjin and Qingdao, with a total capacity of approximately 700,000 vehicles.

Currently, Audi and FAW are jointly making the all-electric Q2L e-tron and the plug-in hybrid A6L TFSIe. Besides, they have started the local production of the Audi e-tron in Changchun since the end of September. In the future, Audi will offer or localize more models from the e-tron family in China. The Q4 e-tron concept, which made its Asian debut at the Auto China 2020, will be made in FAW-VW’s Foshan plant from 2022 on.

By the end of September, Audi delivered 512,081 vehicles to customers in China, up 4.5% from a year earlier. Among them, deliveries of the locally-made vehicles totaled 477,497, representing a 7% year-on-year growth while those of the imported vehicles reached 34,584 units.