Audi celebrated the 20th anniversary of its partnership with First Automobile Works (FAW) in Changchun today and laid the cornerstone for a new assembly hall. The company also announced the local production of the Audi Q5 at the Changchun plant.
“We hope to deliver up to 200,000 vehicles per year to customers in China by 2015. The new assembly hall is an important milestone toward achieving this goal,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG during the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the joint venture between FAW and Audi in Changchun. Xu Jianyi, President of FAW, adds: “We need the additional capacity to keep up with the rising demand for the Audi A6L and A4 models.”
Since 1988, Audi has delivered more than 570,000 automobiles to Chinese customers. Today the brand with the four rings is the market leader in the local premium segment, selling more than 100,000 automobiles in the People’s Republic for the first time in 2007. Besides expanding its production capacity, Audi also plans to expand its exclusive dealership and service center network to more than 200 locations by 2015. Currently there are 125 Audi dealerships and nine Audi service centers in 86 Chinese cities.
The Audi success story in China began with a license agreement between Audi and FAW covering the assembly of the Audi 100 from SKD/CKD kits at the FAW plant in Changchun. Besides the technology transfer required for production and planning, the agreement also included the establishment of a customer service organization and the training of roughly 500 Chinese workers. Established in 1953, First Automobile Works (FAW) is the oldest automotive group in the People’s Republic and now comprises more than 100 companies employing over 100,000 people in total.
In 1995, FAW and VOLKSWAGEN AG signed a Letter of Intent integrating the Audi production into the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture, in which Audi has since held a ten percent stake. The Audi 200 began rolling off the assembly line in 1996 and was produced with a local fabrication content of 60 percent until the summer of 1999.
The Audi A6, which Audi and FAW jointly adapted to satisfy the requests of Chinese customers, was introduced to the market in 2000. The new Audi A6L, also with an extended wheelbase, followed in mid-2005. In addition to the models produced locally, Audi also offers the Audi TT Coupé, A5, S5, Q7, A8L, S8 and R8 models in China.
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