(Yicai) May 20 -- German luxury carmaker Audi and China’s SAIC Group have penned a deal to jointly develop new electric vehicles for the Chinese market.

The Advanced Digitized Platform, the underlying structure on which they will build the new vehicles, will be for compact family EVs with the first being three battery-powered models, the announcement said today.

The first one will hit the world’s biggest auto market next year. Oliver Blume, chief executive of Audi’s parent company Volkswagen Group, had said in March that a vehicle jointly developed by Audi and SAIC would be launched in 2026.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding last July, with Audi seeking a new strategy having fallen behind rivals such as Tesla in China’s fast-growing EV market.

The new platform will raise efficiency in research and development and will cut vehicle development time by more than 30 percent, the announcement said. 

SAIC and Audi will also work together on development, procurement, production and sales, while SAIC-backed Z-One Technology will provide intelligent auto technologies. Fermín Soneira, head of Audi’s A and C segment vehicle divisions, will head up the new partnership.

As well as its Beijing-based Audi China subsidiary, Audi is also involved with the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture headquartered in Changchun, and with SAIC Volkswagen in Shanghai since 2021. Audi delivered 729,042 cars in China last year, including 31,025 of its electric e-tron series.

Audi has been making efforts to expand its EV portfolio in the Chinese market in recent years, including the start of local production of the Audi Q4 e-tron with FAW, and the launch of the China-only Q5 e-tron with SAIC.

It also introduced the imported e-tron GT quattro1 in 2023, and plans to make mid-to-high-end EVs at its Changchun plant from late 2024.

Editor: Tom Litting