Audi FAW NEV Company at work on all-electric vehicle production site in China

MANILA: Audi has plotted the course for the made-in-China production of vehicles based on the PPE (Premium Platform Electric) technology platform for the Chinese market with the establishment of the Audi FAW NEV Company.

The new production site in Changchun is currently under construction. Once construction is completed by the end of 2024, this will be the first automotive plant in China to exclusively produce all-electric Audi vehicles. More than 150,000 vehicles may be produced at the factory every year. Audi's “Mission Zero” environmental program will set the parameters for sustainable production, and all site operations will be networked.

“The start of construction on our new plant in Changchun is an important milestone for Audi in China. With the Audi FAW NEV Company, we are bringing the PPE platform to China and producing market-specific, all-electric models directly on site. This means the cooperation company will play a key role in the ongoing electrification of our model range for the Chinese market,” Audi AG Board of Management Chairman Markus Duesmann stated.

Being constructed on an area around 150 hectares, the new site will be slightly bigger than the existing Audi plant in Neckarsulm, Germany. By the end of 2022, the site will have 20 buildings built on it. The technical teams stationed at the site will cover the entire value chain required for the production of vehicles. Aside from a press shop, body shop, paint shop, and a vehicle assembly line, there will also be a battery assembly facility, where Audi will make the high-voltage batteries used in its China-specific PPE models.

Audi carefully considered its new location. Changhun is one of the biggest automotive regions in China. The headquarters of FAW (First Automobile Works), a long-time Chinese partner of the company, is located there. Since 1988, Audi has manufactured vehicles in the FAW-Volkswagen factories for the Chinese market. The area already houses a network of suppliers for the upcoming plant.

With the new production site, Audi is creating around 3,000 new jobs in Changchun. Three models from the Audi A6 e-tron and Audi Q6 e-tron series will be the first ones produced using the PPE platform once the plant is completed.

The Audi FAW NEV Company's headquarters will also be located at the new site. It is the first joint venture in China in which Audi holds a majority interest. Audi is investing around €2.6 billion in the project, including both the establishment of the company and the construction of the manufacturing site.

“We are combining the best of two worlds. We are bringing together Audi AG’s know-how from over a century of automotive history and the comprehensive expertise of our long-standing Chinese partner FAW in a new, ultramodern company with a production site,” Audi FAW NEV Company CEO Helmut Stettner said.

Cutting-edge technologies and solutions will be employed at the new Audi FAW NEV Company side. The business is adapting templates from other Audi sites' successful factory layouts and procedures and optimizing them to local conditions. All maintenance, logistics, and production processes are networked under an unified IT architecture. Audi is using a fully integrated logistics solution based on SAP S/4HANA for the first time outside of Europe. Before the buildings are even standing, digital tools are already in use: 3D scanning is used to replicate the entire construction site in precise detail — another first for the Volkswagen Group. By taking this action, the planning team in Ingolstadt, Germany is able to closely monitor the site's work progress despite being far away and to consult with the site's experts about the next move.

Photos from Audi

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