Audi could use another manufacturer’s electric platform

Audi is considering buying an electric car platform from a competitor in China for the first time. This comes as the group’s SSP platform is delayed, and Audi cannot (and does not want to) wait.

The German publication Automobilwoche first reported this with reference to company circles. There could be an extraordinary supervisory board meeting as soon as 11 July. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume is said to have approved the plan, and Audi is already in talks with manufacturers. Audi itself told Automobilwoche that it did not know of the plans.

The decision to buy an external electric platform was made against the background that Audi has to continue to deliver EVs, even though the launch of VW’s new electric flagship Trinity (and thus the new group platform SSP) is delayed. The Trinity is not expected to launch until 2029 (some reports even talk of 2030), so there could be no Audi model on this platform before then. According to the original schedule, the Trinity was to debut in 2026.

Audi currently offers the MEB models Q4 e-tron and Q5 e-tron in China. The latter has nothing in common with the combustion model (built in Mexico) but is the Audi offshoot of the VW ID.6 X, an electric SUV for the Chinese market. Both models come off the production line in Anting. Audi and FAW are building a pure electric car plant in China, where from the end of 2024, up to 150,000 units per year will be made – and models based on the PPE. In other words, the platform on which the upcoming A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron models are based.

The PPE already brings some further developments compared to the MEB, such as the switch to a system voltage of 800 volts. The next big leap regarding autonomous driving, software and production, for example, is to come with the SSP.

The report does not mention which manufacturers Audi is talking to. Several candidates could be considered. Geely already announced at the premiere of its SEA electric architecture that it wanted to make it available to other OEMs as an open-source solution. Contract manufacturer Foxconn has developed its own platform for electric cars, the MIH, which will be manufactured for other brands on a contract basis. And BYD founded the FinDreams brand for its third-party business – but for electric drives and batteries, not the complete platform.

automobilwoche.de (in German)