- Audi may redefine the roles of its dual joint ventures in China, with FAW Audi focusing on the four-ring brand and fuel cars, while SAIC Audi concentrates on the AUDI brand.
- The adjustment indicates Audi's attempt to protect its traditional luxury car business while seizing EV market share through a new brand.
Volkswagen's premium brand Audi will soon announce a new restructuring plan for its two joint ventures in China to cope with a fiercely competitive environment, Chinese media Mingjing Pro reported on Friday.
Audi will transfer the sales rights for all internal combustion engine (ICE) models and electric vehicles (EVs) bearing the iconic four rings logo to FAW Audi, based in Changchun, Jilin province in northeastern China.
Meanwhile, SAIC Audi, located in the eastern city of Shanghai, will no longer be responsible for selling traditional ICE vehicles. Its core mission will fully pivot to the AUDI letter-logo sub-brand jointly developed by SAIC and Audi, according to the report.
The strategic move marks the approaching end of a nine-year dispute over Audi's dual joint-venture structure in China. The two sides will have a clear division of labor based on brand attributes and powertrain types.
Although there has been no official response, insiders from both joint ventures said the three parties will officially announce these adjustments in the near future, the report said.
FAW Audi will continue to consolidate its role as the cornerstone of Audi's core business in China, managing the traditional luxury product portfolio based on the Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) and Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architectures.
Currently, SAIC Audi has begun clearing its existing ICE vehicle inventory and is expected to complete the destocking soon. In the future, its sales channels will exclusively retain AUDI brand products geared toward the pure electric era, according to the report.
Through this layout, Audi seeks to retain profits in the combustion engine market while leveraging SAIC's local research and development efficiency to capture a share of the high-growth EV segment via the new brand.
Audi and SAIC jointly launched the AUDI brand in China on November 8, 2024, with its first model, the E5 Sportback, hitting the market in September 2025.
AUDI is a sister brand created specifically for the Chinese market, featuring the fully capitalized AUDI letters as its logo instead of the traditional four rings.
On May 8, AUDI began pre-sales for its second mass-produced model, the AUDI E7X, with a starting pre-sales price of 289,800 yuan ($42,590).
Last month, Audi and SAIC signed a new strategic cooperation agreement to further deepen their partnership. The core of the agreement is the establishment of a new, exclusive, Audi-led innovation and technology center in Shanghai, focusing on complete vehicle R&D.
Based on the Advanced Digitized Platform (ADP) — a next-generation smart digital platform designed for future intelligent connected vehicles — the two parties will jointly develop and launch a first batch of four all-new AUDI brand models.
These new EV models will enter the Chinese market over the next few years, further expanding and complementing Audi's existing product lineup in China.
AUDI's new models heavily integrate localized Chinese technologies, including batteries from CATL (HKEX: 3750), smart driving systems from Momenta, and AI large models from ByteDance.
In addition to the current pure electric models, SAIC Audi management has previously said that technological routes, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), are all under consideration, the Mingjing Pro report noted.
By contrast, FAW Audi is strengthening the market competitiveness of its ICE vehicles and PPE-platform EVs by introducing smart technologies from Huawei.
Through this "dual-track" strategy, Audi hopes to eliminate the long-standing internal friction between its northern and southern joint ventures in China regarding sales channels and product positioning.
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