Audi Without Four Rings Eyes China’s New Forces

On May 20, 2024, Audi announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with SAIC Motor and SAIC Volkswagen to jointly develop an "intelligent digital platform" focused on the Chinese market. Based on this platform, they will create new high-end intelligent connected vehicles, with the first model set to be launched in 2025.

456 days later, delivering on its promise, the brand new AUDI launched the pre-sale of its first new car, the Audi E5 Sportback.

On August 18, 2025, in Shanghai, Audi's luxury electric brand AUDI reached a milestone. Its first mass-produced model, the Audi E5 Sportback, began pre-sales. The new car is available in four configurations, with a starting price of 235,900 yuan, officially entering the fiercely competitive mainstream pure electric sedan market and facing scrutiny from numerous excellent models.

Experience tells us that it usually takes about three years to go from project initiation to the arrival of a new car, but the AUDI brand completed three years of work in just 15 months, experiencing a taste of the "Chinese speed." However, fast does not necessarily mean good, and high efficiency is often questioned. Moreover, the AUDI brand is subject to the skepticism of "What height can an Audi without four rings reach?" Therefore, the AUDI brand needs to use its first model, the Audi E5 Sportback, to dispel these doubts.

So, how is the Audi E5 Sportback? Can it stand out in the fiercely competitive mainstream electric sedan market and restore the reputation of the AUDI brand?

01An AUDI without four rings needs to prove itself.

In my opinion, the product performance within this price range is unquestionable.

Before the pre-sale launch event, few people could have guessed that the starting price of the Audi E5 Sportback would be only 235,900 yuan. This price falls within the sensitive range of mainstream electric sedans, including the currently very popular Tesla Model 3, Xiaomi SU7, Avatr 12, Zeekr 001, and IM L6. These models are divided into different competitive tiers, fiercely competing against each other.

Compared to these models, the Audi E5 Sportback is seen by many as justifiably more expensive. On one hand, this is due to the brand power that Audi, represented by the four rings, has built over the years in the fuel vehicle market. On the other hand, the new car is a completely new high-end intelligent connected vehicle jointly developed by SAIC and Audi, promising to be packed with substantial features.

However, AUDI still showed "sincerity," or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say they offered a price range acceptable to the Chinese market. This made many people, who were ready to criticize its high price, stop pressing the send button.

Next, look at the car.

The design of the Audi E5 Sportback is not conservative. As the debut of Audi's new electric design language in China, it does not show much resemblance to Audi's fuel-powered vehicles, but rather aligns more with the current mainstream aesthetics of new energy vehicles. In addition, with the industry's first touch interaction Audi Smart Island, which integrates quick custom functions such as navigation and calls, I find it hard to believe that it hasn't catered to the preferences of Chinese consumers.

As a new interpretation of German luxury in the electric track, performance and driving control are naturally essential.

The front and rear dual permanent magnet synchronous motors deliver 787 horsepower and a peak torque of 800Nm, achieving a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 3.4 seconds. This set of data reflects Audi's proud performance genes, making the new car competitive in terms of performance, even when compared to performance-oriented models like the Xiaomi SU7 Max.

In terms of performance, some words that sound sporty are associated with the Audi E5 Sportback.

For example, CDC variable damping suspension system, air suspension, Brembo high-performance four-piston calipers, progressive steering, and rear-wheel steering system... these terms are undoubtedly familiar because they often appear in models known for their performance. On this basis, the Audi E5 Sportback has an exclusive advantage - equipped with a dual-motor quattro intelligent all-wheel drive system.

Of course, many people will say that in the era of electrification, speed doesn't hold much value, as just about anyone can achieve 0 to 100 km/h in 3 to 4 seconds. But what is the situation now? In an intensely competitive market, if others have something that you don't, then you're at a disadvantage. Although it sounds bizarre, this is happening in the market, and no one would mind if you have more excellent product features, as long as your price is reasonable.

02Oops, he's really putting effort into learning.

In the Chinese market, the emphasis on intelligence is both an advantage for emerging automakers and a shortcoming for traditional car manufacturers. This is why we often hear complaints that "fuel cars are not smart enough." Such buzzing criticism may not affect the new players, but for many traditional car companies, it is extremely jarring. Just recently, this pressure led to the launch of the "smartest fuel car," the SAIC Audi A5L Sportback.

Therefore, intelligence is also the key to whether the Audi E5 Sportback can break the deadlock.

The Audi E5 Sportback is equipped with the all-new AUDI OS operating system, deeply integrated with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, offering top-tier computing power. Inside the car, the "Audi Assistant," based on a deeply customized Volcano Engine "Doubao" large model, achieves semantic understanding, multi-turn dialogue, and vehicle control interaction, breaking the shackles of traditional car manufacturers' "lack of intelligence" and aligning with mainstream intelligent standards.

Certainly, aligning and leading are two different matters, which has also led to quite a bit of skepticism.

An industry insider raised the question, "Many mainstream models choose to collaborate with Huawei. The recently launched SAIC Audi A5L Sportback has also embraced Huawei. However, the Audi E5 Sportback has not done so. What gives them the confidence to break through?"

In the field of intelligent driving, Audi has chosen a path of integration. AUDI's chosen partner is Momenta, which is another mainstream choice in the intelligent technology track besides Huawei. The two companies are collaborating to develop an assisted driving solution based on Momenta's Flywheel large model, which includes 27 high-precision perception hardware components, such as a lidar, 3 long-range millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, and 11 cameras, combined with Nvidia Orin-X, giving it the potential to handle various complex driving scenarios.

Although Huawei ADS has a unique advantage in the Chinese market, Tesla's FSD still leads in algorithms and data accumulation, Xiaomi's SU7 relies on ecosystem iteration for intelligent driving assistance, and NIO ET5T's NOP+ experience is mature... Each competitor has its strengths, but the Audi E5 Sportback's integrated solution also demonstrates competitiveness.

Additionally, the Audi E5 Sportback has also achieved high marks in terms of practicality. The CATL CTP module-less battery pack provides a CLTC range of up to 773 km. Meanwhile, the 800-volt high-voltage platform architecture supports a 10-minute fast recharge for 370 kilometers. These outstanding data points are the usual trump cards used by new forces, and now AUDI has learned from them.

Moreover, even in terms of car purchase financing policies, AUDI's approach is becoming increasingly "localized." Driving enjoyment gifts, cabin upgrade gifts, and even two-year interest-free financial gifts can be described as imitating others. Whatever you know, I know too. Whatever you have, I must have as well.

However, the challenges cannot be ignored.

In addition to the speed of implementation of intelligent driving assistance and user recognition mentioned above, it also includes user ecosystem and community operations, and the precision of pricing strategies. Take the former as an example, new forces, especially NIO, Xiaomi, etc., have made significant investments in building user communities and integrating online and offline ecosystems. Traditional luxury brands need to accelerate their transformation in terms of user operation thinking and agility. Can AUDI understand this thoroughly? Adjust completely? Act quickly?

At a communication meeting on the eve of the pre-sale, AUDI brand CEO Fermín Soneira emphasized, "We do not have direct competitors... We want to attract potential customers who were initially planning to purchase models from new power companies..." This new brand has set its sights on new power enterprises, with a big appetite and bold ambitions.

At the same time, on its path to future competition, the AUDI brand has not chosen the quickest route to success—replicating the path of successful predecessors—even though this tactic is frequently seen in the Chinese car market, where a car company targets an already successful competitor, follows its path, and then achieves success. Song Feiming, or rather the AUDI brand's approach, is "first, not to exaggerate promotions, second, not to replicate successful models, but to better combine strengths and ultimately focus on satisfying consumers." Wow, he is truly learning with dedication.

The result of the first phase of learning is the Audi E5 Sportback, featuring the AUDI badge with something other than four rings. Pre-sales have started, and the show is on.