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I don’t know if you have heard that Audi electric cars in China may have to change their logos. . .

Just two days ago, two people familiar with the matter broke the news to Shanghai Reuters that due to "brand image considerations" and also to demonstrate the in-depth cooperation with SAIC, Audi's future new series developed for the Chinese market will not use the 4-ring logo.

(em....will anyone buy an Audi without four circles...

It is unclear what the car logo will look like. It may just be the four letters "Audi", or it may be redesigned, but the current flat electrified logo will probably not be retained.

As of now, SAIC Group, Audi China and SAIC Audi have declined to comment on this matter.

But I think it still makes sense. Why?

Let’s first look at the development of new energy in China by Audi, its parent company Volkswagen, and SAIC in the past two years.
First of all, Volkswagen and Audi have not done well in the domestic new energy market in the past two years. Their cars and sales are average. After a long analysis, they think that their new energy platforms and technologies may not keep up. . .

But back then, Volkswagen was the best at using the platform.

Everyone must have heard of Volkswagen's nesting dolls. In 1993, Volkswagen CEO Mr. Piech proposed the concept of "platform" production, which opened the Volkswagen "nesting doll" era.

Platformization, as the name suggests, isBuilding blocksTaking Volkswagen’s current MQB platform as an example, except for the position of the engine module, the wheelbase, suspension and body size can all be adjusted according to the model.

The benefits of this are obvious. The entire vehicle shares about 60% of its parts, and the engines and gearboxes on the same platform do not need to be studied as much, reducing the number of types by 88%.It can save 20% of production costs, and the savings in R&D costs are incalculable.

So, since platformization is so good, in the new energy era, Volkswagen Group also wants to replicate the glory of platforms such as MQB and MLB and create a pure electric platform.

And this is where the problem lies.

The speed of new energy iteration is too fast, and the platform's research and development speed cannot keep up.

In 2017, Volkswagen launched the pure electric platform MEB at the CES consumer show, and it went into production in 2019. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz and BMW were still in the vortex of converting from oil to electricity. Among all foreign car companies, Volkswagen was the most active in transforming to new energy.

But more than 4 years have passed, and domestic new forces have changed many models, but there are no major changes in the cars of the MEB platform. . .

The car computer has not improved and has been criticized by car owners (the smart model is better); the charging platform is still 400V, and even fast charging takes half an hour; the modular battery pack is limited by the platform, and the battery life cannot be increased; the single-motor platform design is also difficult to compare with competitors with increasingly powerful power.

Such a configuration can be sold at a discount if it is sold under the Volkswagen brand, but if it is sold under the Audi brand, it will be a bit cheap and consumers will not buy it.

The PPE platform jointly developed by Porsche and Audi has also encountered many twists and turns, and there was no news until this year. The Audi A6 e-tron was just unveiled on August 2, and Europeans have not even driven one yet, let alone put it on sale. They waited until it was too late to make it popular in China.

When the public saw this, they realized that their beloved Audi couldn't continue like this.

Therefore, Volkswagen turned to its old friend SAIC and handed over Audi's independent pure electrification in China to it.

This is why there is the issue at the beginning that Audi cars do not have Audi logos. Although it is a collaboration between SAIC and Audi, SAIC is in charge of the platform and Audi is responsible for "tuning".

The two parties will use SAIC's E1 platform to build a new ADP intelligent digital platform, and it is expected that the first car will be launched in 25 years, which is very fast.

As for why SAIC is so easy to talk to, and cooperates as soon as it says so...

Well, their new energy has not been doing well in China in the past two years.

Roewe has become an online car-hailing company, and the R brand derived from Roewe, namely Feifan, is almost out of business; MG focuses on selling overseas and is of no help in China; as for Zhiji, it had a good start this year, but everyone knows about marketing, which is somewhat abstract. Last month, the combined sales of the four models just exceeded 7,000, which is not very popular.

Therefore, Volkswagen and Audi can be regarded as sending warmth to Zhiji. Audi has gained the electrification architecture and SAIC has gained popularity, which is a win-win situation.

Regarding the specific division of labor between the two parties, SAIC Volkswagen General Manager Jia Jianxu said that in the future, the new cars developed by Audi and SAIC will be divided into upper body and lower body.

SAIC is mainly responsible for the upper body, including exterior design, electronic and electrical architecture and other software, while the lower body is managed by Audi, which is more adept at chassis. This will enable both parties to play to their strengths and achieve 1+1>2.

Thus, Audi without the Audi logo was born.

Another benefit of doing this is that Audi's slight technical intervention will also make it easier to clarify the division of labor between Audi North and Audi South.

We all know that Audi's flagship products A6L, A4L and Q5L are all under FAW Audi, and in the future, the PPE platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche will also be produced in the Changchun factory, and will most likely still be used by FAW Audi. If it deeply intervenes in the development of SAIC Audi, it will instead lead to competition between the north and the south and increase internal friction.

According to Volkswagen's plan, they plan to let SAIC's ADP platform focus on the B- and C-class car segments, while the company's PPE will be responsible for B- to D-class models.

So, it is very likely that laterFAW Audi will focus on mid-range fuel vehicles and high-end pure electric vehicles, while SAIC Audi will be more responsible for mid-range pure electric vehicles.The two will be staggered and will no longer form a competitive relationship like the ID series.

In the future, consumers will have less worries when buying cars as they don’t have to run back and forth, and everyone will be happy.

But that being said, Audi's pure electric cars are not selling well to begin with. If the logo is changed now, what kind of splash can this car make in the current market?

To be honest, I find it hard to say