Audi EV plant construction begins in China

Audi has launched construction of a plant in China to capitalize on the booming market there for electric vehicles.

The factory, set to come online by the end of 2024, will be dedicated to producing models based on Audi's new Premium Platform Electric architecture designed for EVs, the company said.

Audi is building the plant in the northeast city of Changchun, bidding to ramp up EV output in the world's biggest EV market. The project will include the construction of an adjacent facility to assemble high-voltage batteries, Audi said.

The Changchun plant will be capable of producing more than 150,000 vehicles a year, with the first three models to be marketed under Audi's A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron series, the company added without divulging additional details on the models.

The EV factory will be operated by a newly established EV partnership between Audi, its parent company Volkswagen Group and China FAW Group.

Audi already produces four EV models in China, all crossovers: The e-tron and battery versions of the Q4 and the elongated Q2 are built at VW Group's joint venture with FAW, while the battery-powered variant of the Q5 is assembled at the German group's partnership with SAIC Motor.

Audi was the third-best-selling luxury brand in China in the first quarter, after BMW and Mercedes, although deliveries slipped 22 percent to 161,600 in the period.

Audi did not break out specific EV sales numbers for China.

Audi is not the only major global luxury brand accelerating EV production in China.

BMW last month opened a new assembly plant in the northeast China city of Shenyang along with local partner Brilliance Automobile Holdings Group. That factory, BMW's third production facility in the city, will produce full-electric vehicles only.

BMW's new plant represents an investment of $2.24 billion. In February, the automaker raised its stake in BMW Brilliance to 75 percent from 50 percent. The joint venture assembles vehicles only for the BMW brand.

Tesla and Chinese automakers such as BYD dominate China's booming EV market, with sales more than doubling from a year ago.

Meanwhile, legacy automakers that have relied on the internal combustion engine for decades, such as General Motors and Volkswagen Group, are falling behind in the market.

Nearly a quarter of the cars sold in China in the first five months of this year were battery powered, according to data from the China Association of Automotive Manufacturers.