Audi is making a giant change to its branding for the Chinese language market with a brand new brand that lacks the automaker’s well-known four-ring emblem. Immediately in Shanghai, the corporate confirmed off the brand new “AUDI” brand — sure, it’s simply Audi in all caps — on the entrance of a brand new E idea electrical Sportback that notably lacks its broadly used “E-Tron” branding.
In a press launch, Audi’s CEO Gernot Döllner stated it’s hoping to faucet into China’s “extra tech-savvy” clients who “anticipate main connectivity in addition to automated driving.” Reuters reported in August that Audi was planning a rebrand for China, the place the automaker bought lower than 10,000 autos within the nation within the first half of 2024.
Audi says the AUDI E idea represents a preview of three upcoming mid- and full-sized fashions it’s going to introduce beginning in mid-2025. Audi shaped a partnership with Chinese language state-owned SAIC Motors and positioned its former electrical fashions head, Fermín Soneira, as the brand new group’s CEO. A brand new Superior Digitized Platform was developed via the partnership, that includes an 800-volt structure that underpins the E idea.
Soneir, who has been with Audi father or mother firm Volkswagen for 25 years, says the partnership is ready as much as “collectively manage growth, buying, manufacturing, and gross sales.”
