German car brand Audi and Chinese automotive conglomerate SAIC Group have signed an agreement on cooperation expansion, agreeing to unite efforts in designing and producing electric cars for China. According to CarBuzz, the manufacturers need to stay close together to survive in the rapidly changing market. As for the exchange of tech, it will be SAIC that will be providing its technology to Audi, not the other way around.
The report from CarBuzz states that the German automaker had originally intended to use its Premium Platform Electric architecture co-designed with Porsche to produce cars for the Chinese market. The company still intends to use this platform in the international version of the all-electric CUVs Q6 e-tron and Macan. However, due to the software development hurdles that had already forced Volkswagen Group to postpone the launch of multiple new EVs, Audi found itself with no suitable technological basis to begin production in China upon. As such, the automaker was forced to seek for new partners in China.
There is still no official confirmation of this report from either corporation. Regarding the technology that SAIC Group might provide to Audi, it could be the platform used by its premium sub-brand co-founded with Alibaba – IM Motors. You may have a look at its production sedan named L7 and crossover SUV called LS7 to get an idea about it.
For its own part, SAIC has been producing Audi-badged cars in China for a few years now, one example being the Q5 e-tron seven-seater (in the gallery below).