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Pre-sale for the AUDI E5 Sportback, developed in the strategic partnership between Audi and its Chinese partner SAIC, started on the same day: Customers in China can now preorder the model. The first vehicles will be delivered in September. Fermín Soneira, CEO of the Audi-SAIC cooperation project, says: “Every vehicle from the AUDI brand embodies the best of both worlds: iconic design, premium quality, technical precision, emotional driving dynamics, combined with China’s cutting-edge technology, innovation and digital ecosystem. With pre-sales now launched alongside production, the E5 Sportback enters the market fully equipped to deliver an uncompromising experience for Chinese customers. This milestone marks the beginning of a new era of ICVs.” Dedicated production facility for AUDI models To manufacture AUDI models, the two partners have established a dedicated production facility on the existing SAIC Volkswagen site in Anting, Shanghai. Initially, around 700 employees will produce the AUDI E5 Sportback there. Two additional AUDI models are scheduled to follow within the next two years. The manufacturing operations in Anting are defined by a high degree of automation, state-of-the-art technologies – including machine learning for quality monitoring – and a fully digitalized production management system. AUDI E5 Sportback: first series model of the new AUDI brand The four-door AUDI E5 Sportback, is a fully electric fastback, combining dynamic proportions, power outputs of up to 579 kW and a maximum range of 770km. Four distinct powertrains offer rear-wheel or quattro drive for a dynamic driving experience, accelerating from 0-100km/h in up to 3.4 seconds. Built on the new Advanced Digitized Platform (ADP), the E5 Sportback offers next-generation connected vehicle functionality and full-car over the air updates.

Mattias Ekström finished third in the DTM invitation race in Shanghai (China), giving Audi another podium result. Starting from ninth position in his Audi A4 DTM in a gruelling heat of almost 40 degrees Celsius, the Swede proved that the new street circuit in the centre of China´s boom town allows overtaking. Impressive was also Rinaldo Capello’s DTM debut: The Italian moved to third place with a great start and eventually finished fifth despite paper had blocked the air intakes of his Audi A4 DTM. As a consequence, the brakes overheated while Capello did not get any more fresh air into the cockpit. A similar problem caused Frank Biela to pit. Peter Terting finished a strong eleventh at his DTM comeback in a 2003 Abt-Audi TT-R. Audi lost the chance of winning in Shanghai due to collisions on the opening lap which caused the retirement of the fastest three Audi A4 DTM cars. Tom Kristensen was touched from behind and spun into the car of his team-mate Martin Tomczyk at the first corner. Emanuele Pirro was pushed into the wall while fighting for second position one corner later. Christian Abt also retired after an accident. Due to an incident that happened at the first start, only one of the two races scheduled in Shanghai where held. Works on the track delayed the start until almost 6 p.m. local time. Quotes after the race Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5) 3rd place, + 13.228s “I think it was a great show for the spectators. There was a lot of action especially in the first lap. Despite being faster than the drivers in front of me I had to wait for mistakes of them because it is so difficult to overtake here. Dindo (Capello) was very gentle. He did not block me when I was catching him. Alesi fortunately made a mistake. It was quite a nice feeling to give my French friend a little lesson.” Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #22) 5th place, + 32.756s “Finishing fifth in my DTM debut race makes me feel really happy.

High price for poor qualifying results in FIA WTCR All four drivers in the points on the circuit at Ningbo Accidents not of its own doing deprive Audi Sport of better positions several times Unfavorable positions in both qualifying sessions deprived Audi Sport customer racing of better results on the seventh race weekend of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup in China. In the end, seventh place clinched by Frédéric Vervisch following a display of fighting spirit in the third race was the best result for the Audi RS 3 LMS at Ningbo. In China, Comtoyou Team Audi Sport and Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport experienced an extremely difficult weekend because the four Audi Sport drivers clearly remained below their expectations as early as in both qualifying sessions. Tenth position by Niels Langeveld for the first sprint race was the best result in qualifying. The Dutchman in the Audi RS 3 LMS of Comtoyou Team Audi Sport improved to ninth place in a race that saw no major positional shifts. In the turbulent second race, Jean-Karl Vernay was the best driver under the banner of the four rings. From 13th on the grid, the Frenchman had already fought back to seventh position when shortly before the end of the race some fierce battles with plenty of body contacts ensued. Vernay was one of the victims and ultimately crossed the finish line in the eleventh spot. Subsequently, the third race turned out to be the best one for Audi Sport this weekend. Frédéric Vervisch had entered the final competition in fourteenth place. The Belgian from Comtoyou Team Audi Sport made up one position after another, avoided contacts with his opponents in an accident-prone race and in doing so improved to seventh place. Gordon Shedden from Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport clearly moved forward twice as well: from the 25th spot, he fought back to 14th position after fierce attacks by his rivals in the second race and to 15th in the third round.

ILMC finale at Zhuhai with changeable weather Conservative tire choice in qualifying Audi R8 LMS shines in GTC class The two Audi R15 TDI cars fielded by Audi Sport Team Joest will tackle the first major endurance race for sports prototypes in China from the second row of the grid. Rainfalls obstructed the work of the teams at Zhuhai on practice days and made qualifying a gamble as well. After all three free practice sessions had taken place on a wet track the rain stopped shortly before the qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Because the track still had some damp spots Audi Sport Team Joest decided to play it safe and to initially send both cars out on intermediates. When Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello switched to slicks rain set in again. The eight-time Le Mans winner was able to improve to grid position three despite the fact that the track was becoming increasingly slippery and missed the first row by merely 199 thousandths of a second. Dindo Capello changed to slicks one lap later and was no longer able to improve as the rain was getting heavier. The Italian used the remaining minutes of qualifying to optimize the set-up of the Audi R15 TDI as sunshine and temperatures of up to 26 degrees in the shade have been predicted for the day of the race after the two previous days had seen rain and fog. Audi Sport Team Joest will have another 20 minutes in warm-up on Sunday to optimize the Audi R15 TDI cars for dry conditions. Due to the many narrow turns at Zhuhai an optimal race set-up and efficient brakes will play a crucial part over the 1000-kilometer distance. On the first showing of the Le Mans sports cars in China Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish will be running in the Audi R15 TDI designated as car number “7.” Dindo Capello shares the cockpit of car number “8” with Romain Dumas. The Audi R15 TDI will start into a sports car race in current trim for the last time.

Strong showing by the Le Mans winners in ILMC finale at Zhuhai Controversial final phase costs Audi a possible victory Second and third place for Audi Sport Team Joest Audi Sport Team Joest thrilled the fans on its first showing in China with a fantastic season finale of the sports prototypes at Zhuhai. However, a controversial final phase deprived Audi of the victory the brand would have actually deserved. During the entire 1000-kilometer race Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish and Dindo Capello/Romain Dumas at the wheel of the two Audi R15 TDI cars fought a fascinating duel with the two Peugeot 908 cars. One hour before the end, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish were clearly leading the race when the only safety car period caused their advantage to shrink from over 30 to 13.5 seconds. Afterwards the spectators witnessed a sprint race in which every tenth of a second counted. Accordingly, Tom Kristensen was very surprised when immediately before the last refueling stop of his direct rival in the Peugeot, Stéphane Sarrazin, he was slowed by Sarrazin’s team-mate Sébastien Bourdais, who was running as much as three laps behind. This allowed Sarrazin to come back out after his last refueling stop with a one-second advantage over Kristensen and to ultimately win the race with a 4.8-second lead. The controversial “teamwork” deprived the Chinese fans of a true final shoot-out. Nonetheless, they witnessed the performance capability and reliability of the two Audi R15 TDI cars that were equal and at times superior to the competition in the race that took place in warm humid weather and temperatures of 26 degrees in the shade. The strategy of changing the tires at each pit stop after the second hour of the race proved to be right. The Audi drivers were able to take advantage of the fresher tires again and again and made up the time lost in the pits after each change.

F1 show car with Audi Launch Livery at Auto Shanghai Development of power unit at Neuburg facility in full swing Innovation and efficiency topics in the focus of the development team Audi is presenting its Formula 1 project in China for the first time from April 18 to 27: The F1 show car with the striking Audi Launch Livery is a central element of the brand’s presence at Auto Shanghai. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann has provided insight into the current progress of the project during the press conference. Under the motto “F1 Power made in Germany” the company is preparing to enter the top class of motorsport. From 2026, Audi will compete in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship with its own factory team and a power unit developed in Germany. “Motorsport is an integral part of our DNA,” said Markus Duesmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, at Auto Shanghai. “We are convinced that our Formula 1 commitment will strengthen Audi’s sporting focus. The racing series is continuously increasing its global reach, especially among young target groups and in our most important sales market: China.” The Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit could not take place for a fourth consecutive time due to the pandemic, and this makes him even happier to give Chinese Formula 1 fans a preview of Audi’s future involvement in the top class of motorsport. “The Audi Formula 1 project has really taken off in recent months,” says Oliver Hoffmann, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development at AUDI AG. “In the ongoing concept phase of the power unit, the foundation of our drivetrain for 2026 is being laid today. We attach great importance to detail work, for example on materials or manufacturing technologies, and we also focus on topics such as the energy management of the hybrid drivetrain. After all, efficiency is a key success factor for Formula 1 and the mobility of the future, these approaches will advance both worlds,” says Hoffmann.

Innovation Summit in Beijing on December 4 and 5 Audi CEO Bram Schot: “China is the ideal place to discuss innovation topics” Ticket applications at www.the-mobility-quotient.com Audi is inviting pioneers, visionaries and technical experts from all over the world to Beijing for the third MQ! Innovation Summit to discuss new approaches to innovation topics and the mobility of the future. Sustainability, electric mobility, artificial intelligence, automated driving: These are some of the main topics that will be addressed in keynote speeches and examined in workshops with all the participants. “China is the ideal place to discuss impulses for the mobility of tomorrow. Here, we are in a phase of transformation in which the digital environment in particular is rapidly changing,” says Bram Schot, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “It is the unconventional thought leaders who shape our future with their ideas. According to the motto ‘#neverstopquestioning,’ we want to promote this dialog, inspire each other and develop new ideas together.” The expected keynote speakers include Kai-Fu Lee, an expert in artificial intelligence and author of the book AI Superpowers; Derek Haoyang Li, founder of Squirrel AI Learning; and Peggy Liu, founder and chairperson of JUCCCE (Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy), a non-governmental organization that has been at the heart of the greening of China. In thirteen different workshops, the summit participants will dive deeper into the topics and work on specific questions: What does the right charging infrastructure for electric cars look like in Asia’s metropolises? How is the mobile ecosystem developing in China? How are we using swarm intelligence and augmented reality? The intercultural aspect is at the focus of this year’s MQ!

The seventh round of the season at Shanghai (China) on November 9 may even produce the decision in the drivers’ World Championship. Since the race at Fuji (Japan), it has been clear that the World Endurance Champions are again driving an Audi this year. Loïc Duval/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish (F/DK/GB) in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro will have the chance to secure the World Champion’s title in China even before the finale. Their only remaining opponents are their team-mates Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F). 40.75 points separate the two Audi driver teams. 52 points are yet to be awarded. Three factors make the seventh round of the WEC a big challenge for Audi. At the premiere at Shanghai a year ago, Audi saw that the cornering radii of the modern Grand Prix circuit have a particularly disadvantageous effect on the R18 e-tron quattro. In six of the narrow turns, the hybrid race car is slower than 120 km/h. But only above this speed, the e-tron quattro hybrid system is allowed to use the recovered energy for acceleration again – as prescribed by the regulations. The second factor: The event was shortened to two days. Only 33 hours pass between the first practice session and the checkered flag. This challenges the engineers and the drivers to work with particularly high concentration on the set-up and preparation for the race. A third factor adds further spice to the battle for the podium positions. As most recently at Fuji, challenger and last year’s winner Toyota, like Audi, is fielding two cars. Therefore Audi and its many racing fans are thus in for a challenging ‘home round.’ China has long become a second home to the brand with the four rings. The country is the largest single market and a strong growth engine for the company. In the first three quarters of the current year, sales in China increased by 20.6 percent to 358,213 automobiles.