BEIJING (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s (ETR:) premium brand Audi said on Monday it will develop a new China-specific platform for smart and electric vehicles with its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC.
The move, coming about 10 months after VW’s landmark partnership deal with China, underscores growing pressure on Western brands and legacy automakers to reinvent themselves to survive the intensifying electric vehicle race in the world’s biggest auto market.
Audi is lagging far behind Tesla (NASDAQ:) and other Chinese rivals in electric vehicle sales amid a protracted EV price war.
Audi and SAIC will develop models built on a new architecture called the Advanced Digitized Platform, which “allows Audi to significantly reduce time to market by more than 30%,” the German brand said in a statement.
According to the statement, the first of three electric vehicle models running on the new platform will hit the market in 2025.
The announcement shed light on plans for further collaboration between Audi and SAIC, which VW announced in July when it said it would buy a 4.99% stake in Xpeng (NYSE:) for about $700 million, as well as plans to jointly launch two electric vehicle models under the Volkswagen brand by 2026. .
In another example of Europe’s growing dependence on Chinese EV expertise, French-Italian automaker Stellantis (NYSE:) said earlier this month that its venture with Chinese partner Leapmotor (HK:) will begin selling two Leapmotor models in Europe from September.
Audi has used VW’s EV-specific MEB platform for two EV models in China, the Q4 e-tron and Q5 e-tron, through its two ventures, one with SAIC and the other with FAW, while simultaneously developing a new EV platform with Porsche.
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Audi will begin production of the first electric vehicle based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture developed by its headquarters no earlier than 2025 in China at its joint venture with FAW.
Reuters previously reported that the Audi Q6L e-tron will be equipped with Huawei’s advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) in China.
Sales of Audi’s two EV models offered in China totaled 6,420 units in the first four months, accounting for 0.45% of total EV sales, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the China Passenger Car Association and ByteDance’s automotive information platform Dongchedi.