Hot topic丨A new car without [four circles] is unveiled, Audi Intelligent Driving has a new idea

According to the latest quarterly financial report, Audi's operating profit in the third quarter of this year was 106 million euros, a decrease of 91% from the same period last year.

The result was partly attributed to higher production costs as its Brussels plant in Belgium, which produces the Audi Q8 E-tron, was at risk of closure.

In Germany, this measure is expected to affect 4,500 indirect production jobs, with the reduction in R&D departments being particularly prominent, and more than 2,000 R&D personnel may face job adjustments.

Audi is also facing huge pressure in the Chinese market. In the first half of this year, Audi Group's revenue in China fell 26% year-on-year to 338 million euros, and sales and pricing systems continued to be under pressure;

Compared with its competitors Mercedes-Benz and BMW, there is a large gap in its electrified product line, and the average monthly total sales of the three pure electric vehicles currently on sale are only 2,000 units.

In recent years, Audi has missed the golden period of development of new energy vehicles, and change is imminent.

Launched a new brand [AUDI] and focused on developing new energy vehicle models

In November 2024, Audi and SAIC Group jointly launched a new brand [AUDI] in Shanghai and showcased the B-class pure electric coupe concept car AUDI E Concept.

In short, the capitalized [AUDI] brand has been officially incorporated into the Audi brand sequence and, like the four-ring logo, belongs to the Audi brand family.

AUDI and the four-ring logo will coexist with different brand logos and different product portfolios. They share the name [AUDI] because they have a common DNA and tradition.

Audi did not reveal too many details at the press conference, but it can be confirmed that the AUDI E will be equipped with high-power dual motors with an output power of up to 570 kilowatts and can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in just 3.6 seconds.

In addition, the model will be equipped with Audi's proud full-time four-wheel drive system.

At the same time, the AUDI E Concept is equipped with high-end configurations such as front and rear wheel steering systems and air suspension with continuously adjustable damping function, ensuring both driving pleasure and safety.

Looking at the configuration of the Audi E Concept, we can see that it is equipped with a 100 kWh battery, a 570 kW dual motor, an air suspension system, and is equipped with an advanced intelligent driving assistance system.

These configurations represent the standard configurations of the country's top electric vehicles, and Audi has provided them all.

In the field of intelligence, the intelligent digital platform of the AUDI E concept car adopts an intelligent partitioned electronic architecture, which can support functional upgrades and remote online updates (OTA) of future smart cars.

The platform is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 5nm 8295 chip with 30TOPS computing power, ensuring users can enjoy a clear AUDI digital interface experience.

The AUDI Assistant intelligent assistant is presented as an artificial intelligence virtual image in the center of the car. Users can interact with it through touch and voice commands. The assistant can convey emotions when responding.

In addition, the AUDI E concept car is also equipped with an advanced intelligent driving assistance system suitable for driving and parking scenarios.

It is predicted that this concept car will be mass-produced and delivered to the market in 2025.

In the next three years, the project plans to launch three pure electric models, fully covering the B and C markets to meet the needs of different consumers.

Became the "No. 1 Project" and cooperated with SAIC on a high-end pure electric vehicle project

According to internal planning, the new luxury pure electric brand to be launched by Audi will break away from the traditional competitive landscape of BBA and directly compete with emerging forces.

This high-end pure electric vehicle project, which was jointly launched by Audi China and SAIC Motor half a year ago, quickly became Audi's "No. 1 Project".

According to relevant reports, at the beginning of the cooperation, Audi put forward "speed" as the core requirement to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Limited.

Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen Group, clearly stated that [the Chinese market is like a gym, and without intensified exercise, it will be impossible to keep up with the pace of competition].

From the signing of the cooperation agreement between the two parties on May 20 to the debut of the AUDI E concept model on November 7, the product development cycle has been shortened to the limit.

Starting from the AUDI brand, the cooperation model between the two parties changed to developing new cars from scratch directly for the Chinese market.

Zu Shijie, chief engineer of SAIC Motor, revealed that ZeroBeam Technology provides the latest electronic and electrical architecture, central computing platform, intelligent cloud platform and digital products for AUDI E;

In the field of intelligent driving, it adopted the Momenta solution, which shares the same technical foundation as Zhiji.

The Audi project started with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on deepening strategic cooperation in July last year, and the formal signing of the cooperation agreement on May 20 this year, and the official launch of the new brand on November 7;

It also plans to launch the mass-producible concept car AUDI E concept in the first half of next year. This series of actions breaks the efficiency record of traditional automakers.

According to the division of labor, Audi headquarters is responsible for traditional areas such as product design and chassis tuning, while the SAIC team is responsible for the new car's smart cockpit and smart driving parts.

The AUDI E concept is based on the intelligent digital platform jointly developed by Audi and SAIC. SAIC Audi cooperates with supplier ZeroBrain Technology in software and operating systems, and is responsible for self-developed full-stack solutions for smart cars.

Autonomous driving supplier Momenta provides high-end intelligent driving solutions for the new car, while battery giant CATL is responsible for providing power batteries.

Release Q6 L e-tron, cooperate with Huawei, PPE platform architecture

The Audi Q6L e-tron family is the first domestically produced model of the high-end pure electric platform PPE platform jointly developed by Audi and Porsche teams.

Positioned as a [full-domain intelligent luxury pure electric SUV], it is expected to make its debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show, and is scheduled to start mass production at the end of this year and deliveries in the middle of next year.

Audi claims that the Q6L e-tron will be equipped with a dual laser radar and visual fusion perception system that can achieve L2++ level intelligent driving functions in all scenarios.

The Q6L e-tron uses multi-sensor fusion technology in its intelligent driving hardware, including a total of 2 laser radars, 11 high-definition cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars.

According to the information officially released by Audi, the Audi Q6L e-tron series is equipped with Adaptive Cruise Assist Pro and Parking Assist Pro functions;

It has a deep understanding of road structure, accurate identification of traffic rules, precise control of driving trajectory and the ability to simulate human decision-making.

According to the information currently leaked, the Audi Q6L e-tron is likely to adopt Huawei's ADS solution, which indicates that the Q6L e-tron may become the first electric vehicle jointly created by the ABB brand and Huawei.

The A5L model and Audi's subsequent fuel models will all be designed based on the PPC platform architecture.

In the future, Audi will gradually switch to the new platform. Fuel vehicles will basically be built on the PPC platform, and electric vehicles will basically be built on the PPE platform.

The core of the platform lies in five high-performance computers, referred to as HCPs, which are responsible for integrating all vehicle functions from the drive system, suspension system to comfort system and infotainment system.

When adapting to Audi's pure fuel vehicles, Huawei's intelligent driving system does not need to process complex underlying vehicle data. It only needs to call the corresponding parameters through HCP for the autonomous driving decision system (ADS) to make corresponding decisions.

For example, the model will be equipped with an advanced intelligent driving assistance system using Huawei technology, and the two parties have developed customized functions based on the Huawei ADS 2.0 platform.

Huawei's intelligent driving system will be deeply integrated with Audi's driving assistance system HCP 2 to provide a higher level of autonomous driving functions, including automatic parking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, etc.

The system integrates Huawei's latest technological achievements in the field of autonomous driving, such as high-precision maps, environmental perception, decision-making planning, vehicle control and other modules.

Conclusion: Emerging car companies pursue luxury, while traditional car companies pursue technology

In the past, luxury and advanced intelligent driving seemed to be options that could not be achieved at the same time.

Choosing an electric car equipped with advanced intelligent driving technology often means sacrificing the quality and safety brought by traditional luxury cars;

If you choose a traditional luxury brand, you will have to accept the lag in updates of smart driving functions.

This trade-off in choice leads to a natural division of consumers into two camps, each of which faces a lack of experience.

Therefore, in the era of smart electrification, the definition of luxury cars has begun to become blurred, and the originally stable market structure has evolved into a [no man's land] lacking a leader.

In order to break through, emerging forces have proposed the concept that intelligence is the "new luxury", while traditional forces, in order to maintain their own status, insist on their individuality while working hard to make up for their own shortcomings.

In the view of Auto-First, the first half of electrification technology continues to upgrade, and high-rate battery technologies such as 800V high-voltage platform and 4C fast charging have become the focus of competition.

The competition in the second half of intelligent driving is more intense, and the technology continues to develop towards a higher level. NOA technology is rapidly expanding from highways to urban roads, end-to-end large models are installed on vehicles, and L3 autonomous driving technology is gradually being commercialized.

The speed of product updates and iterations, the launch of new models, and the ability to respond quickly to the market, these characteristics of the Internet genes of these emerging forces are reshaping the overall landscape of the smart electric vehicle market.

Some reference materials: Bad review: "A new car without [four circles] is unveiled, Audi's smart driving has a new idea", Electric Vehicle Commune: "Audi has another big move! Will it become the top smart driving brand?", Prism: "Audi's determination to drive smart driving: make up for the last shortcoming", Smart Car Reference: "Audi confirms to use Huawei's smart driving: the same model as Avita, pure fuel to achieve "drive wherever there is a road"", Blue Blood Research: "Audi joins hands with Huawei's smart driving, is it a strong alliance or a last resort?", Geek Park: "Audi's new brand AUDI still has "four rings", but you don't see it", Automotive Media: "The [appearance] and [reality] surrounding AUDI", Shangguan Car Dealership: "Is Audi's [Project No. 1] subversion or self-rescue"

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