“Audi wants to buy Chinese platform, possibly for top models”

Under code names Artemis (Audi) and Trinity (Volkswagen), Audi and Volkswagen are working on a brand new, scalable EV base that will probably include the electric Audi A8. However, Trinity, which focuses more on electrical mass models, is experiencing delays and Artemis seems to have been scrapped altogether. The electric A8 should have emerged from this in about 2026, but it will not be now. Trinity is reportedly still going ahead, but the result is not expected until the end of this decade.

Time that Audi has to bridge and that is why it now goes according to the usually well-informed Automobilweek do something special. Audi knocks on the door of the Chinese, as the medium understands from sources within Audi. The brand would like to take over an EV platform from an unnamed Chinese manufacturer. Although it is not said with so many, given the problems with Artemis and Trinity, it is likely that the basis is intended for the electric A8, among others. After all, Audi itself has the fresh PPE platform for the lower segments, on which the electric A6 and Q6 appear, among other things. Earlier there were rumors that Audi and Porsche would jointly develop an alternative for the A8 and the Panamera respectively, perhaps a continuation of the jointly developed PPE.

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume would have already given Audi permission to make a deal with the Chinese. Now it is especially exciting which platform is involved here. Geely’s EPA platform (including the Volvo EX90 and Lotus Eletre) is a possibility, although it is close to PPE in terms of possibilities. BYD is working on a top limousine that should be able to compete with the EQS and i7s of this world and then there is of course Hongqi. Hongqi is part of Volkswagen’s Chinese partner FAW and is already moving into the highest regions of the car country with the electric E-HS9, although its basis is probably not interesting enough in terms of specifications. We wait and see.