The German carmaker has announced a partnership with the Shanghai-based automotive giant as it looks to expand into the EV market.
Shanghai-based and state-owned SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with German automaker Audi to co-develop electric vehicles in a bid to expand Audi’s EV footprint in markets like China.
- Audi will rely on SAIC’s infrastructure to expand into the Chinese EV market
- Both brands to jointly work on launching new products
- SAIC owns MG Motor, and jointly owns SAIC-GM with General Motors
Audi-SAIC partnership: key points
The companies say both look to launch new, connected cars and expand into newer, previously unexplored market segments. According to the memorandum, both sides say they will leverage their respective advantages and strengths to speed up Audi’s development of new electric vehicles in order to meet the demand of Chinese customers for premium connected EVs.
SAIC – the India connection
SAIC has partnerships with multiple car brands and also has a few car brands of its own. It currently has a global partnership with General Motors as well. In the past, Chevrolet India sold rebadged iterations of SAIC vehicles like the Chevrolet Sail and the Chevrolet Enjoy MPV in India.
British marque MG Motor is also currently owned by SAIC and sells the Hector, Astor and the ZS EV SUVs in India.
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