Audi links up with FAW Group for EV venture

German premium automaker Audi AG said yesterday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s state-owned FAW Group to launch a venture to make premium electric vehicles.

Audi has a long partnership with FAW, which is based in Changchun, northeast China’s Jilin Province. The German firm also plans to make vehicles with Shanghai-based automaker SAIC Motor.

Audi said it would produce models based on the Premium Platform Electric, a base developed with Porsche. It said the new venture would start manufacturing several models in China from 2024.

Audi aims to have electrified vehicles make up a third of Chinese sales by 2025. It sold 512,081 autos in China in the first nine months of 2020 and about 690,000 units last year.

Audi and Porsche’s representatives in China said there was no plan for Porsche production at the new venture.

EV makers such as Nio Inc and Xpeng Inc as well as foreign firms like US leader Tesla are expanding manufacturing capacity in China where the government promotes greener vehicles to reduce air pollution.