On January 18, Audi, Volkswagen Group and FAW announced that the new energy joint venture between Audi and FAW will be set up in Changchun.

Audi and Volkswagen Group will hold 60 percent of the company's shares, the first time Audi controls a joint venture in China. This is also the second foreign-owned new energy vehicle joint venture after Volkswagen (Anhui).

The company will produce pure electric vehicles based on the PPE platform (Premium Platform Electric) jointly developed by Audi and Porsche. At the same time, the PPE platform products will be sold by FAW-Volkswagen's wholly-owned subsidiary FAW-Audi Sales.

The first plant is planned to have an investment of over RMB 30 billion and the first model will go into production in Changchun in 2024.

The new PPE joint venture is expected to be established in the first quarter of 2021 after approval by all shareholders and Chinese regulators.

On October 13 last year, FAW and Audi officially announced at the 2020 (4th) Sino-German Automotive Conference that they would jointly establish a new energy vehicle joint venture and sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Audi FAW Premium New Energy Vehicle Cooperation Project.

Once this news was released, it sparked speculation about the equity of the joint venture company. The FAW-Volkswagen joint venture currently has an equity ratio of 60% FAW, 30% VW, and 10% Audi, with FAW having control.

However, China has lifted the new energy vehicle joint venture share ratio restrictions. Previously, the VW side has raised its stake in the new energy joint venture with JAC to 75 percent. It was expected that the new energy joint venture would be controlled by Audi.

Audi gets license for self-driving tests on Beijing public roads

Audi, FAW set up new energy joint venture, first model to go into production in 2024-CnEVPost

(Source: Unsplash)