The VW Group, together with its Chinese joint venture partner, SAIC Motor, will reportedly invest 4.13 billion yuan ($590 million) in order to ready their manufacturing facilities in Shanghai for the new Audi A7L long wheelbase model.
According to a document seen by Reuters, the revamp is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and comes as demand for luxury cars in China remained strong despite fewer sales these past two years.
Currently, the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture only sells cars under the VW and Skoda brands. A revamp of its Shanghai plants should result in an annual manufacturing capacity of 60,000 Audi A7L units and 60,000 new VW crossovers. The plants’ maximum capacity will remain unchanged.
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As for when we’ll be able to see the A7L, SAIC chairman Chen Hong has already specified that the VW joint venture plans on rolling out its first Audi product in early 2022.
Meanwhile, Audi China said that its project with SAIC was proceeding according to plan, without specifying what that project was. The joint venture’s sales are currently down 37% year-on-year to 577,385 in the first half of 2020, while total industry sales fell 17% – due to the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the Chinese car industry. Last year, the joint venture sold no fewer than 2 million cars.
Furthermore, Audi also has a long-term deal with the FAW Group in China to build all its cars in the northeastern city of Changchun and Foshan (southern China).
