Audi = or ≠ AUDI?

[Carbon82]

AUDI E Concept

Noticed something unusual with this new concept from Audi?

The grill (or rather the lack of one), it headlights, taillights on the rear bumper, or yah you get it, the missing 4 rings.

If I tell you this is NOT an Audi, I believe one of the very first thing that pops up in your mind is that this a copycat from China, am I correct?

Well the car IS from China, but just NOT copycat. This isn’t an Audi but an AUDI. Confused? So am I.

Audi Is Launching a New Car Company Called… AUDI

tl;dr: 

• This a new sub brand by Audi and China SAIC, for the Chinese.
• With many new sub-brand formed in China every other weeks, they decided to go with AUDI and call it a day.
• To prevent confusion (what an irony), its logo is a 4 letter words in capital, instead of the 4 rings on the parent Audi.
• These AUDIs will peacefully coexist with the regular crop of Audis featuring the historic logo harkening back to the Auto Union era.
• And you have guess, the brand new AUDI will only be carrying EVs, no gasoline model in its lineup of 3 model (in 2025).

 

On a side note, if one day you see a CARBON82 in MCF, it is not me but maybe a new account of Carbon82 for posting some nonsense here. @kobayashiGT boleh / KYM?  

[SGCM928]

Why don't they use AUDI by Audi, sounds more upmarket.

[Beanoyip]

Going to buy a NEW AUDI now..

[kobayashiGT]

On 11/8/2024 at 7:10 AM, Carbon82 said:

AUDI E Concept

Noticed something unusual with this new concept from Audi?

The grill (or rather the lack of one), it headlights, taillights on the rear bumper, or yah you get it, the missing 4 rings.

If I tell you this is NOT an Audi, I believe one of the very first thing that pops up in your mind is that this a copycat from China, am I correct?

Well the car IS from China, but just NOT copycat. This isn’t an Audi but an AUDI. Confused? So am I.

Audi Is Launching a New Car Company Called… AUDI

tl;dr: 

• This a new sub brand by Audi and China SAIC, for the Chinese.
• With many new sub-brand formed in China every other weeks, they decided to go with AUDI and call it a day.
• To prevent confusion (what an irony), its logo is a 4 letter words in capital, instead of the 4 rings on the parent Audi.
• These AUDIs will peacefully coexist with the regular crop of Audis featuring the historic logo harkening back to the Auto Union era.
• And you have guess, the brand new AUDI will only be carrying EVs, no gasoline model in its lineup of 3 model (in 2025).

 

On a side note, if one day you see a CARBON82 in MCF, it is not me but maybe a new account of Carbon82 for posting some nonsense here. @kobayashiGT boleh / KYM?  

So what Audi do? just help them to name it as AUDI? hahah. 

You need to find a china rich daddy to buy MCF first lah. Then everything also boleh.
you want CarBon82, cARbON82 CARBon82 also can. hahahah. 

[Volvobrick]

Learn from us? After naming contests name marina bay Marina Bay and the budget terminal Budget Terminal? 

[Tohto]

On 11/8/2024 at 9:55 AM, Beanoyip said:

Going to buy a NEW AUDI now..

Ehhhh.. for China market leh.. 

[Tianmo]

New BENCHI and BAOMA coming soon.  The BBA of china.

 

Edited November 8, 2024 by Tianmo

[SGMCF328]

This definitely qualifies for April Fools' joke.

Like that dyson can come out with a sub brand called 'DYSON',  BYD can have a sub brand 'byd' for the Chinese market.

But wait, BYD is from China, so 'byd' for US the A to demonstrate that they are so small as compared to the Chinese? Hahahaha

 

Edited November 8, 2024 by SGMCF328

[Carbon82]

On 11/8/2024 at 2:35 PM, Tianmo said:

New BENCHI and BAOMA coming soon.  The BBA of china.

 

No no.

BMW will have BmW (Beijing motor Wansui)

Mercedes will have 5 point star instead of 3 for other market. But sorry lor, 5 point star taken by JAC (from China) liao...

Or maybe should up the ante to 8 point star? 8 = Huat mah.

 

On 11/8/2024 at 4:14 PM, SGMCF328 said:

This definitely qualifies for April Fools' joke.

Like that dyson can come out with a sub brand called 'DYSON',  BYD can have a sub brand 'byd' for the Chinese market.

But wait, BYD is from China, so 'byd' for US the A to demonstrate that they are so small as compared to the Chinese? Hahahaha

 

I am quite surprised that you noticed the Dyson wordings in its logo are actually spelled in small letters.

What I understand is that the founder (James Dyson) don't want people to associate the brand with his surname / first name, so he created it all using small letters.

[Benarsenal]

When say the name must shout. 

"I drive AUDI!"

[Carbon82]

Explain this: AUDI is apparently for those who wouldn't buy an Audi.

If this is a GP question, good luck to the examinees.:D 

Audi Says the AUDI Brand Will Attract 'Different' Buyers

Last week, Audi confused just about everyone when it rolled out a sub-brand. While new automakers are frequently introduced in China’s hugely competitive market, this launch was different and confusing for two reasons. Audi and its local partner SAIC decided to simply call their joint company “AUDI” and use an unexpectedly simplified logo that didn’t include the treasured Four Rings.

Instead, the famous badge was swapped out in favor of four capital letters, “signaling both the connection to and differentiation from the sister brand.” But why did Audi decide to apply this disorienting strategy? An official explanation comes from Ralf Brandstätter, Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China and Chairman of the China Board. In a LinkedIn post, commenters rightfully asked him why the AUDI E concept doesn’t have the fabled four rings:

"Of course, there will still be vehicles with the four rings in China. The new brand with the AUDI lettering has a more progressive design, but is 100 percent Audi DNA. It will address other new customer groups in China that we have not previously covered with the four rings. A good addition to our portfolio in China. We have a bold plan. Don‘t worry. "

Replying to a different comment, Brandstätter said:

"The Chinese market is very different from the rest of the world. Customer demands are different. And that is why an additional range with the AUDI logo and a progressive design makes sense. This allows us to tap into new customer groups for the brand in a rapidly growing market."

AUDI is apparently targeting “young, tech-savvy Chinese premium customers,” separate from Audi’s clientele. The luxury brand and SAIC decided against bringing back a historic company name even though there were a few options available: Auto Union, DKW, Horch, NSU, and Wanderer. Horch did return a few years ago for a fancy A8 long-wheelbase version exclusive to China. However, the young customers that AUDI and SAIC are targeting are unlikely to be drawn by these old names.

Starting fresh with a completely different name and logo would’ve made less of a splash in China where you’ll find more car companies than in any other country around the world. Keeping the Audi connection with the new namesake sub-brand should help the electric vehicles stand out more than the usual cars sold by Chinese automakers.

Beyond the different-but-still-the-same company name, the AUDI models will look substantially different than those sold by the traditional luxury brand. Brandstätter touts “a more progressive design” while retaining “100 percent Audi DNA.” Marketing buzzwords aside, the E concept is unlike any other electric Audi on sale today. It’s labeled as a Sportback, but different than the globally available swoopy five-door liftbacks and SUVs that use this terminology. It adopts a more wagon-esque silhouette and has a screen-heavy interior with minimal conventional controls.

Common sense tells us Audi will cannibalize sales of AUDI and vice versa but Brandstätter is confident the two can peacefully coexist. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Based on the Advanced Digitized Platform co-developed with SAIC, three production models will be introduced in China from the middle of 2025. There aren’t any plans to sell these EVs elsewhere, so the Audi/AUDI confusion will be limited to the world's second-most populous country.

I think none of the petrol head will be bothered by Audi strategy with AUDI, just confused. 🤔 

[Carbon82]

New model from capital letters AUDI.

Audi’s AUDI Launches 770 HP Wagon Most Of The World Will Never See

Audi has officially unveiled its first-ever production model under its new AUDI sub-brand, the E5 Sportback. And no, that’s not a typo; it’s AUDI (all caps, without the four rings) and it’s a new venture entirely, created in partnership with China’s SAIC. This China-exclusive car follows on from last year’s E concept and it designed to fit into a rapidly growing market with some interesting features.

Launched at the Shanghai Auto Show, the all-new five-door wagon is an electric-only offering available in both rear- and all-wheel drive configurations, with a quoted maximum range of 770 km. The new car will be available on Chinese forecourts in the summer.

Although it’s similar in size to the A6 Avant, measuring 4,881 mm x 1,959 mm x 1,478 mm, the AUDI E5 Sportback is more than just a rebadged e-tron. It’s built on a platform developed through collaboration between Audi and SAIC, with the aim of combining the best from Germany and China.

On the Continental side, Audi touts design and engineering excellence, while SAIC’s contribution is described as being found in the E5’s digital ecosystem and innovation. “It delivers on our brand promise: the best of both worlds,” says Fermín Soneira, CEO of the new venture.

There’s a lot of talk about carrying forward the Audi DNA, and it’s clear that the German side is doing much of the heavy lifting in the branding department‚ despite claims that there’s a clear differentiation between Audi and AUDI (really?)

However, it’s also a tacit admission that Chinese consumers want the kind of advanced technology that is not only commonplace among homegrown brands but also tough for foreign brands to deliver. The backbone of this is the new AUDI OS. The system runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 automotive chipset and is displayed on a massive 27-inch 4K screen that spans the entire breadth of the cabin.

It features facial recognition and an app store that is “fully integrated into the digital world of China.” Or, in other words, it’s tailored to China’s unique ecosystem of advanced, homegrown apps, ranging from payment gateways to messaging services.

Of course, there’s also a voice assistant, which TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has developed. The focus has been on making the virtual assistant as human-like as possible, with the ability to change its “demeanor” using something called Behavior Select.

Another significant yardstick by which premium cars sold in China are judged is their autonomous driving capabilities. The AUDI E5 Sportback features a suite of LiDAR sensors, which have been specifically trained for the unique challenges of urban roads in China. For instance, the system can supposedly detect tricycles and two-wheeled delivery riders.

The AUDI also features a parking assistant that can memorize paths across multi-story car parks and navigate to a specific spot before parking itself — a nifty feature for those living in the concrete jungles of China.

The tech specs and options of the AUDI E5 Sportback bear several similarities to entries we’ve already seen in Audi’s lineup. It features 800-volt charging architecture that can get you 370 km in just 10 minutes, similar to that found on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) that underpins the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron.

Although the exact technical specifications of each mode are yet been released, we know that the E5 Sportback will be available in four variants. Available in both rear- and all-wheel drive, customers will be offered outputs of 220 kW (295 HP / 299 PS), 300 kW (402 HP / 407 PS), 425 kW (570 HP / 578 PS) or the range-topping 579 kW (776 HP / 787 PS) — that’s Audi e-tron GT territory.

The top-spec E5 will get to 100 km/h in as little as 3.4 seconds. The largest battery on offer will be 100 kWh, with a maximum driving range quoted as 770 km on the CLTC test cycle. The E5 will ride on air suspension and will also have the option of all-wheel steering.

The E5 Sportback will go on sale in Summer 2025, and will serve as the cornerstone of the AUDI brand. Expect two more AUDI models to be revealed in 2026 and 2027.