Audi, the Volkwagen Group’s luxury brand, started building a new plant in the northeast city of Changchun on Tuesday, bidding to ramp up output of electric vehicles in China, the biggest global market for such vehicles.
The factory, set to come online by the end of 2024, will be dedicated to producing models based on Audi’s new Premium Platform Electric architecture designed for EVs, the company said.
The plant will be capable of producing more than 150,000 vehicles a year, with the first three models to be marketed under Audi’s A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron series, the German luxury brand added, without divulging additional details on the models.
The EV factory will be operated by a newly established EV partnership between Audi, Volkswagen Group and China FAW Group Corp. It will be joined by a new adjacent facility to assemble high-voltage batteries, Audi said.
Audi produces four EV models in China, all crossovers: the e-tron and battery versions of the Q4 and the elongated Q2 are built at VW Group’s joint venture with FAW, while the battery-powered variant of the Q5 is assembled at the German group’s partnership with SAIC Motor Corp.
Audi was the third-bestselling luxury brand in China in the first quarter after BMW and Mercedes, with deliveries slipping 22 percent to 161,600. Audi didn’t disclose EV sales in China during the period.
Audi is not the only major global luxury brand accelerating EV production in China.
BMW last week opened a new plant in the northeast China city of Shenyang along with local partner Brilliance Automobile Holdings Group Co. The factory, BMW’s third production facility in the city, will produce full-electric vehicles only.