Audi FAW NEV, Audi’s majority owned joint venture with FAW Group, said it had completed construction of a vehicle test centre at its electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing complex currently under construction in Changchun in China’s Jilin province.
The joint venture, in which Audi has a 55% stake, would play a central role in its China electrification strategy.
According to local reports, construction of the EUR2.6bn dedicated EV plant was scheduled to be largely completed by the end of 2023 with capacity for 150,000 vehicles per year based on Audi’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE), an EV platform jointly developed with Porsche.
Pre-production and testing was scheduled to begin next year with the first model launched early in 2025. Audi said the plant would produce “three models based on the A6 e-tron sedan and Q6 e-tron series”.
Audi FAW NEV claimed the newly completed Test Center Changchun was one of its most advanced testing facilities worldwide able to test up to 70 vehicles simultaneously.
It “represents an important step in fully localising product testing in China”.
JV CEO Helmut Stettner said completion of the test centre “represents a solid step forward for our testing and validation system”.
