Audi Q4 e-tron sold 2,367 units in China for May, up 97.2% year-over-year. The German compact SUV also increased its sales by 354% compared with April, according to insurance registrations monitored by China EV DataTracker. The car is manufactured by the FAW-Audi joint venture.

The Q4 e-tron is Audi’s best-selling EV in China, followed by Q5 e-tron, which sold 650 units in May, up 63% year-over-year and 44% up from April. Q5 e-tron is made by the SAIC-Audi joint venture.

Despite Audi China sales slightly falling 1.5% to 46,300 units in May compared with the previous year, the BEV sales grew 46% to 3,017 units.

Audi revealed its new China strategy at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, confirming it is doubling down on the domestic market and pushing Volkswagen’s “In China for China” approach.

“This is the most exciting moment of my career. We bring together China’s digital ecosystem and Audi engineering,” said Fermin Soneira, CEO of Audi and the SAIC cooperation project, at the Shanghai Auto presentation attended by CarNewsChina. “It is the best of two worlds – China speed with Audi premium quality, ” Fermin concluded at the media event held in late April.

At the media event, Audi officially launched its new China-only brand, AUDI. This is not a typo. The new brand ditched the four-ring logo, trying to demonstrate that it does not rely on its legacy, and exchanged it for four capital letters. So, the Audi China booth at the Shanghai Auto Show hosted two brands: Audi and AUDI.

AUDI also showcased its first car – the E5 Sportback. It is heavily SAIC-inside as the core parts of the EV were developed by the Chinese state -owned auto giant. The motor is produced by Huayu Automotive Electric Systems Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Group. The battery is ternary lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides (NMC) produced by SAIC Power Battery Co., Ltd., a joint venture between SAIC Motor and battery giant CATL. SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., will manufacture the EV in its No. 1 factory in Anting, Shanghai, which is also SAIC-VW headquarters.

Editor’s comment

Volkswagen Group and AUDI in particular made clear they gave lots of autonomy to their Chinese team to innovate. During the presentation, CEO Fermin Soneira was using words such as 800 V charging, ADAS, UI and UX (!), speeding up the product development cycle at China speed, which I never heard from German managers in China before.

Apparently, Audi and AUDI managed to get some market trust back for their brands in the Middle Kingdom. This doesn’t mean they already survived, but they are back in the game and part of the EV discourse. We will keep an eye on it.