Audi and the Chinese FAW are further tightening their ties. From 2024, the two parties will jointly build electric Audis in the higher market segments.
Audi and FAW (First Automobile Works) have been working together for quite some time. The FAW Group has been associated with the Volkswagen Group for years through various joint ventures and in 2017 the company announced that it was going to build fully electric cars together with Audi. In China, FAW is therefore building an electric version of the Q2, which we do not know here. It also builds the E-tron that is available here for the local market. More models will be added in the near future. Audi and FAW have now signed an agreement in principle for this.
Audi and FAW work together to build and develop models on the PPE basis. This modular EV platform, which Audi has developed together with Porsche, is intended for electric cars in the higher market segments. So above the well-known MEB platform. In China, the two parties will build cars for the local market on that basis, but you can bet that there are also types among them that will also be included in the European model range. In the latter case, however, the question is to what extent FAW has played a role in the development. That is probably limited to cars that are purely for the Chinese. In 2024, the first EVs should roll out of the Chinese factories on that basis.
It is still difficult to say which models it will be in concrete terms, but mainly count on larger SUVs and possibly also luxury sedans. For the European market, the cautious expectation is that a Q5 E-tron will be in the barrel on this basis and possibly also an electric successor or counterpart to the A8. Porsche is working on a fully electric Macan on this basis.