ChinaAudi and SAIC have opened the AUDI Innovation & Technology Center in Shanghai, a dedicated research and development site for AUDI, the China-only brand the two companies launched together. The centre covers vehicle development including chassis engineering, software, AI cockpit systems and driver assistance.
Who owns it and who runs it
The AITC employs around 300 people. Ownership is split between SAIC at 49 percent, Audi at 41 percent and Volkswagen Group China at 10 percent. Matthias Pfister heads the centre, having previously run SAIC Volkswagen’s pre-series centre in Shanghai.
Four cars on ADP 2.0
The centre’s brief is the second wave of AUDI models. Audi and SAIC will jointly develop four cars on ADP 2.0, a new platform built for intelligent connected electric vehicles. The first of the four is due to debut in 2028.
The current AUDI range consists of the E5 Sportback and the E7X, with a third model expected in 2027. The four ADP 2.0 cars come after that, which puts a gap of roughly a year between the end of the current lineup and the start of the next one.
Development moves to where the cars sell
The practical effect is that most of the engineering for these cars now happens in China rather than in Ingolstadt with a Chinese partner attached. That shortens the loop for the parts of a car that Chinese buyers judge most closely and that change fastest: infotainment, voice and AI features, and driver-assistance behaviour tuned for local roads and traffic.
AUDI is written in capitals and carries no four-ring badge, a deliberate separation from the Audi models sold globally. The AITC gives that brand its own engineering base rather than a share of someone else’s.
The AUDI E5 Sportback is Audi's China-only electric shooting brake, built with SAIC on the 800V ADP platform with no four rings on the badge. Four trims span a 299 hp RWD base to a 787 hp quattro AWD flagship, with CLTC range up to 773 km. Prices start from ¥235,900.
Audi's flagship electric SUV for China, built on the 900V ADP platform by the SAIC-Volkswagen joint venture and sold under the AUDI badge rather than the four rings. Five trims run from ¥269,800 ($40,000), with a 408 hp rear-drive version and a 680 hp quattro that reaches 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds.
