Pre-mass production begins at Audi's new NEV production base in China

CHANGCHUN -- German luxury carmaker Audi AG launched pre-mass production on Friday at its first production base for purely electric vehicles in China, an important step for the company in further optimizing its strategic layout in China's new energy vehicle (NEV) market.

Helmut Stettner, chief executive officer of Audi FAW NEV Company, said the base, in northeast China's Jilin Province, boasts a planned annual production capacity of over 150,000 vehicles. Three pure electric models tailored for the Chinese market are expected to roll off its production lines by year-end, successively becoming available on the market from early 2025.

Cooperating with China's leading automaker FAW Group Co Ltd, the Audi FAW NEV project, with total investment expected to surpass 35 billion yuan (about $4.9 billion), broke ground in June 2022 in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun.