Audi's First Mass-Produced Car Model Launched! Song Feiming: This Marks the Beginning of Audi's New Era
After 15 months of cooperation, Audi has finally launched its first mass-produced car model.
On August 18th, Audi E5 Sportback went into production and officially opened for pre-orders. "This is a milestone event, marking the beginning of Audi's new era," said Song Feiming, CEO of the joint venture between Audi and SAIC Motor.
Specifically, the new car will have four configurations: pioneer, pioneer plus, pioneer quattro, and flagship quattro. The starting price is 23.59 million yuan.
As Audi's first mass-produced car model, E5 Sportback was jointly developed by Audi and SAIC Motor on a new platform - the intelligent digital platform, which is equipped with integrated battery technology from Ningde era CTP and has a maximum cruising range of 773 km. With an 800-volt high-pressure platform structure, it can achieve rapid recharging of 370 km within 10 minutes.
Despite the new car's letter mark, Audi emphasized that its products have pure Audi brand genes in terms of performance and handling. The E5 Sportback is equipped with a double electric motor quattro intelligent four-wheel drive system.
From the start, the Audi project has focused on developing products for China's younger consumers, emphasizing digitalization, intelligence, and human-machine interaction. The new car is equipped with the latest Audi OS operating system, combining a high-performance Qualcomm 8295 digital cockpit processor.
Photo source: Huang Xingxu, journalist with Every News.
In terms of configuration and price, the Audi E5 Sportback will face competition from the likes of Xiaomi SU7, Model 3, Jixiang 001, and Zhiji L6. "This is one of our flagship models this year, and we have high expectations for sales," said a SAIC Audi employee interviewed by Every News.
With the new car's launch, SAIC Audi has already prepared its sales channels for the E5 Sportback model. It plans to expand its dealership network to 240 stores by the end of the year, covering over 100 core cities.
Worth noting is that the Audi E5 Sportback was born at SAIC Audi's intelligent manufacturing base. According to reports, this base has upgraded from a production site previously used by Volkswagen Group and now specializes in producing Audi models with an annual capacity of 360,000 units.
Looking back, the Audi project started last May when Audi and SAIC Motor announced their cooperation agreement. The joint venture further strengthened local cooperation and launched a new car model. Typically, it takes three years from concept to launch for a new car model. However, with the Audi project's rapid development, the product update cycle has been shortened by 30%.
In reality, China has become the source of electric and intelligent transformation for the automotive industry. Many automakers are upgrading their R&D systems in China, giving local teams more voice, and introducing Chinese domestic suppliers. The Audi project is seen as an exploration of a new cooperation model for the Audi brand.
"All this would not have been possible without the collaboration between German and Chinese teams," said Audi's global CEO, Horst von Sanden. "German engineering technology and quality, combined with China's innovative speed, software development speed, and digital ecosystem, are all tightly connected."
According to Audi's plan, over the next three years, it will launch more pure electric car models covering B- and C-segment markets, aiming to further refine Audi's product matrix in China and expand its existing product lineup.
Every News