Audi chief technical officer Rouven Mohr says the era of building one car for every market is over. “The idea of the global car - so one car that fits the world - this is gone, to be honest, because it’s not fitting anymore in the US (and) in China,” Mohr said, describing how far buyer expectations have drifted apart across Audi’s three biggest regions.
The clearest result of that shift is already on sale. In China, Audi builds a separate “AUDI” lineup with joint-venture partner SAIC, badged without the four rings and sold only there. It runs alongside the classic four-ring Audi range, which China keeps too. The AUDI E5 Sportback, an electric shooting brake built on the SAIC-developed ADP platform, is the lineup’s first model on sale, aimed squarely at Chinese buyers who Mohr says favor heavy screen use and fast-moving digital services over the tactile switches Europeans still prefer.
That divergence is shaping Audi’s plans outside China as well. Mohr points to different body sizes and vehicle types selling in the US than in Europe, where emissions rules and vehicle taxation push buyers toward different configurations altogether. Going forward, Audi expects more region-specific models and trims across all three markets rather than a single global spec adapted at the margins.
The China-focused product houses behind AUDI’s SAIC models also run on a faster development cycle, which Mohr credits for shortening the path from concept to showroom. Audi has cited that same “China speed” while readying other recent projects, including the Concept C design study and the limited-run Nuvolari.
