Audi debuted a new China-only luxury brand this week, revealing a concept car as part of the announcement. The new brand’s name? AUDI. The capital letters are necessary to differentiate it from Audi. How do you know the car is an AUDI instead of an Audi? It says AUDI on the front end in place of the Audi four rings. The concept car is called the AUDI E Concept, and while the AUDI doesn’t really look like an Audi overall, the AUDI does have some Audi design cues that tie it into Audi while keeping it distinctly AUDI.
A fun fact I didn’t know is that Audi was the first “premium car brand” to enter the Chinese market back in 1988, and Audi’s experience in the market is why it decided to create AUDI, which is being developed as a joint venture with Shanghai-based SAIC Motor. Three production models will be coming next year on a new Advanced Digitized Platform architecture that was worked on by SAIC and Audi teams in Germany and China. Here’s what Audi had to say about the company in the AUDI press release:
AUDI is shaped 100-percent by the Audi DNA and embodies “Vorsprung durch Technik” in the era of electric intelligent connected vehicles. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner: “The automotive industry is undergoing the largest transformation in its history. With our partnerships in China, we are playing a decisive role in this transformation.” At the same time, Chinese premium customers are different from their international counterparts and have different expectations: they are younger than in the rest of the world. They are more tech-savvy. They expect leading connectivity as well as automated driving and, more importantly, an exciting, unmistakable experience in an interior that is both familiar and surprising.
The needs and wishes of these premium customer groups are the benchmark and specification sheet for the joint development team from Audi and SAIC. This team has been set up with Fermín Soneira from Audi as the CEO.
Soneira, formerly the long-standing Head of Product Line for Electric Models at Audi, steers the partnership with 25 years of extensive experience within the Volkswagen Group. “Our cooperation reflects the spirit of ‘the best of both worlds’ and has been set up to jointly organize development, purchasing, production, and sales,” said Fermín Soneira. “With both parties contributing their core strengths, I firmly believe Audi will continue to shape the future of premium electric mobility by integrating the innovation strength of the market.”
The new joint program offers the best of two worlds in automotive development. It combines the strengths of Audi with SAIC’s innovation speed. Audi brings know-how in premium products and design, overall vehicle development, and engineering to the table. SAIC offers fast innovations, a well-established technology ecosystem, and deep insight into the local market’s demands. The result of this combination: the Advanced Digitized Platform.
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner stresses: “The joint platform will be the basis for a new generation of state-of-the-art intelligent connected vehicles exclusive to China. The upcoming models are aimed at a promising and simultaneously demanding new customer segment. The cooperation will further expand the Audi portfolio of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in China and accelerate the company’s transformation in the world’s largest market.” The first three BEV models will be in the mid-size and full-size segments (B and C. The collaboration model reduces time-to-market by more than 30%, with the first model to commence sales in 2025.
So there you go. AUDI is different than Audi, but AUDI is still Audi at its core, even though AUDI is also SAIC. Makes total sense. As for the E Concept? I think it looks pretty great. AUDI says its design was tailored for Chinese customers, and the E takes the form of a wagon-y Sportback with a very sloping roofline that still seems to offer a ton of interior space. At 191.7 inches long the E Concept is 5 inches shorter than an Audi RS6, but both wagons are the same height of 57.5 inches tall, and the AUDI’s wheelbase is an inch longer.
Its fenders are rounded and really bulging, and overall the AUDI’s smooth surfacing is a departure from existing Audis. The front and rear ends have wraparound black bars that contain all the main lights and sensors (plus the AUDI logos), with the center panels getting further triangular lights that are very Audi. This treatment is “radically new, iconic, and characterful,” according to AUDI. Another cool element is the center CHMSL acting as a mount for the dramatic floating spoiler.
AUDI says many of the people who worked on the E Concept previously worked at Audi’s Beijing design studio, so it has been designed to meet the specific needs of Chinese customers. Says AUDI, that means the team “prioritized the combination of the comfort the brand is known for and seamless integration of technology. Users thus experience the AUDI E concept a stylish, comfortable, and connected oasis fit for the urban lifestyle in China’s megacities.”
There’s a curved 4K touchscreen that runs across the entire width of the dashboard, with screens for the rear-view cameras added to the ends. The door panels have incredible “lamella” tiered wood sections that are illuminated, along with tons of microfiber upholstery and other wood bits throughout the cabin. The ambient lighting in general looks really fantastic, and there are cool blocky design elements to pieces like the arm rests.
A new AUDI OS infotainment system shows “all crucial information” without needing to dive into menus, and it offers a robust app store. There’s also a new AI avatar called the AUDI Assistant, placed as a touch control in the center of the dash, that “conveys emotional feedback when interacting,” and the AUDI Control touch bar on the center console can control anything on the main screens and “adapts contextually to any function or content users are interacting with.”
AUDI says the E Concept has an electric motor at each axle that give it Audi Quattro all-wheel drive and outputs of 764 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, good enough for a 0-to-62-mph time of 3.6 seconds. Its 100-kWh battery pack gives it a range of 435 miles on the Chinese CLTC cycle, and the 800-volt architecture means it can gain 230 miles of range in 10 minutes of charging. AUDI says it “drives like a real Audi in terms of comfort as well as dynamics,” but that it also has China-specific driver-assistance features.
The upcoming AUDIs are surely not going to come to the United States, but maybe some of the technology features could. If you’re visiting China over the next few years, and you’re unsure if you’re looking at an AUDI or an Audi, just remember: AUDIs say AUDI while Audis have four rings, even though some Audis also say Audi in places.
