The four-ring Audi logo belongs to FAW, the AUDI brand belongs to SAIC Motor, and Audi has formed a "north-south separate governance" operation pattern in China.
FAW and SAIC seem to have both gains and losses, but this adjustment is similar to the merger of FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota. For Audi, with the launch of the Joint Venture 2.0 era, both SAIC Audi and FAW Audi have obtained full authorization and institutional guarantees, which helps to further accelerate the decision-making process and deeply cultivate the Chinese market at a faster speed and with higher precision.
The long-standing north-south split of Audi in China has finally ushered in a result that all parties are quite satisfied with.
Three days after the official announcement that Audi China will welcome a Chinese national as its president Zhang Jun, it was confirmed today (26th) that the Audi four-ring logo will belong to FAW Group, while the AUDI letter logo will belong to SAIC Motor.
Audi China released a statement today stating that Audi has signed strategic agreements with its two local partners in China, FAW Group and SAIC Motor respectively, aiming to strengthen the differentiated positioning and respective strategic priorities between the Audi four-ring brand and the AUDI letter logo brand, and further clarify the "dual-brand, dual-partner" channel architecture.
According to the agreement, FAW Group will take full control of the Audi four-ring brand, covering both fuel and new energy tracks, and promoting the "simultaneous advancement of fuel and electric vehicles for full intelligence" strategy; SAIC Audi will focus on the AUDI letter logo brand and concentrate on the new energy market.
This means that SAIC Audi will no longer produce and sell fuel models bearing the Audi four-ring logo. According to the agreement, SAIC Audi can still sell four-ring-branded products normally before the end of 2027.
However, SAIC Audi promises that all customer services, after-sales guarantees and dealer operations will continue to be carried out in a stable and orderly manner.
The product line of FAW Audi will adopt a diverse and balanced product matrix, covering luxury new energy models and next-generation intelligent fuel models, including the Audi A6L e-tron, Q6L e-tron, as well as the all-new Audi A5L, A6L and other models.
Regarding the intelligence of fuel vehicles, according to a report by the German magazine *Manager Magazin* on October 20, Gernot Döllner, Global CEO of Audi, is advancing negotiations with Huawei to develop a China-exclusive version of the next-generation A8 specifically for the Chinese market. This model will be manufactured locally at the PPE plant in Changchun instead of being imported from Germany; a high-end SUV is also planned synchronously, with the first batch scheduled to be put into production at the end of 2028.
The overseas version of the next-generation A8 will be built on the Porsche MSB platform and produced in Leipzig.
Current A8L
Regarding the cooperation with Huawei, the *Manager Magazin* report states: "Huawei participates in core development", which means that FAW Audi will become the Audi entity that introduces the Huawei HI+ model, but the cooperation between the two sides starts with a single model, instead of building a new independent brand like Qijing and Yijing.
However, this news has not been confirmed by both Audi and Huawei. The report says the relevant plan has not been finalized yet, and there are also disputes within the Volkswagen Group.
From the perspective of this "north-south division" arrangement of Audi in China, it seems that FAW Audi has achieved a complete victory. But from official statements and the actual layout, Audi's separation of channels and brands not only prevents competition between the two partners, but also facilitates more reasonable allocation of resources.
At the same time, through cooperation with Huawei, Audi stabilizes its basic market of fuel vehicles, while in the new energy sector, it holds two cards: Audi FAW and SAIC Audi.
Although SAIC Audi has given up fuel vehicles, the AUDI brand is building a brand-new distinct identity in the Chinese market.
Two models have been launched on the market so far, from the AUDI E5 Sportback to the AUDI E7X. Among them, the AUDI E7X has accumulated sales of 10,434 units by the end of August since its launch in May, making it the first luxury pure electric model whose sales exceeded 10,000 units within 100 days after its release.
In addition, on September 3, the Audi Intelligent Technology Center (AITC), built by Audi and SAIC exclusively for the AUDI brand, completed industrial and commercial registration in Shanghai, with the registered entity being Audi (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. and a registered capital of 694 million RMB.
Its shareholder structure is 49% held by SAIC Motor, 41% held by Audi AG, and 10% held by Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd., with the German side holding the controlling stake in total.
As Audi's first R&D entity with full value chain capabilities established outside Europe, its goal is to shorten the development cycle of new AUDI brand vehicles to less than 24 months. It will take the lead in deploying the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) and AI Defined Vehicle (AIDV) sectors, focus on R&D of intelligent electrification technologies and complete vehicle development, with key directions including AI intelligent cockpits tailored for Chinese users and next-generation advanced driver assistance systems. Models developed based on the brand-new platform will be launched in 2028.
It can be said that FAW and SAIC seem to have both gains and losses, but this adjustment is similar to the merger of FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota. For Audi, with the launch of the Joint Venture 2.0 era, both SAIC Audi and FAW Audi have obtained full authorization and institutional guarantees, which helps to further accelerate the decision-making process and deeply cultivate the Chinese market at a faster speed and with higher precision.
Jia Jianxu, President of SAIC Motor, said: "What SAIC needs to do is to truly integrate the advanced industrial ecosystem and technical system with Audi's accumulated luxury heritage for mutual shared prosperity. The AUDI letter logo brand shoulders the mission of creating a new model of joint venture cooperation."
Audi's on-sale models and their power types globally and in the Chinese market
According to statistics from third-party sources, Audi's total sales from January to September this year are about 305,300 units, a year-on-year decrease of around 25% (non-official figures). As the core sales base of Audi in China, the main fuel vehicle models of FAW Audi have plummeted; the A6L saw a year-on-year decline of more than 33% in the first 7 months; the sales volume of the Q6L e-tron and A6L e-tron built on the PPE pure electric platform is at a very low base, which is not enough to support the overall sales performance.
This business split of Audi in China comes at an opportune moment.
By comprehensively comparing the performance of BBA in the Chinese market, in the first half of 2026, the total net profit of the three German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi decreased by about 1.535 billion euros (equivalent to about 12 billion RMB).
All three brands are generally facing the risk of sales collapse.
As the sales champion in recent years, BMW's cumulative sales from January to September reached 376,100 units, a sharp year-on-year drop of 21.8%, with the decline expanding to 24.8% in Q3; while Mercedes-Benz recorded sales of 297,000 units, a sharp year-on-year drop of 29%, with the decline consecutively exceeding 30% in Q2 and Q3.
In comparison, Audi's transformation efficiency in China is faster than that of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, it shows more respect for the Chinese market, and its authorization to Chinese management is also bolder and more aligned with the actual situation of the Chinese market.
Five days later, on November 1, Audi China will welcome the first Chinese national president in its history. Zhang Jun, who once worked at Audi China before moving to Chery, will replace Johannes Roscheck, and form a dual co-management board with the newly appointed Audi COO Rolf Michl, with one person in charge of local market, business and cooperation, and the other responsible for technology and operation coordination with the headquarters.
Streamlining the management structure this time to improve the speed of local decision-making response in China and promote the strategic implementation of the two Chinese partners FAW and SAIC is clearly its top priority.
This article is from the WeChat official account "AutoR AutoDriving" (ID: zhinengqiche), written by Yulai, edited by Langlangshan and Mingzhishan, and published by 36Kr with authorization.