Volkswagen's luxury brand Audi has announced a strategic partnership with SAIC Motor to jointly develop a new platform for electric vehicles specifically designed for the Chinese market. This collaboration comes ten months after Volkswagen's landmark Chinese partnership deal and highlights the increasing pressure on Western automakers to adapt to the rapidly growing electric vehicle market in China.
The new platform, called the Advanced Digitized Platform (ADP), aims to significantly reduce development time for new EV models by over 30%. The first of three planned models based on ADP is expected to launch in 2025. This initiative builds on previous announcements of collaboration between Audi and SAIC, including Volkswagen's investment in Xpeng and plans for jointly launching two Volkswagen-branded EV models by 2026.
Audi's current EV offerings in China, the Q4 e-tron and Q5 e-tron, utilize Volkswagen's MEB platform. However, the company is also developing a new EV platform with Porsche called the Premium Platform Electric (PPE), which is expected to be utilized for Audi's Q6L e-tron model in China, featuring Huawei's advanced driving assistance system.
Despite these efforts, Audi's EV sales in China have lagged behind competitors like Tesla and Chinese rivals. The company sold 6,420 EVs in the first four months of 2024, representing a small fraction of the total EV market. With the new ADP platform, Audi aims to accelerate its EV development and better compete in the Chinese market.
