Audi Powers-up Chinese R&D

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Audi follows a trend set by other OEMs, notably GM, and opens an R&D Center in China. Located in Beijing’s fashionable 751 D-Park , the center will be busy doing product customization for the Asian market, especially when it comes to electronics and connectivity, along with components for new-energy vehicles and efficient powertrains.

Located at the site of an old coal-fired power plant, built in the bad old days with the assistance of East Germany, the 751 D-Park has quickly made a name as China’s fashion and design hub. Audi’s R&D Center is right in the middle of the center. It also helps that the 751 D-Park is in the North-East of Beijing, halfway between downtown and airport, thereby helping to avoid the worst of Beijing’s traffic, as long as one takes a plane.

Approximately a third of Audi’s sales are in Asia, and most of those are in China. If you are somebody in China, you show that with an Audi, preferably an A6 long, and most preferably one with a white tag and a red star. Blinking lights in the front grille help you get back to the airport on time.

Ignoring stories that government officials must eschew foreign premium marques and drive Chinese, Audi increased its 2012 sales in China by 30 percent. TTAC readers, serviced by experienced writers, never had to believe the story anyway. We wrote in February: “Just about every year, there was an announcement that the Chinese government will from now on only buy Chinese. It never happened.” And so it did not happen again.

Audi Sales 201220122011YoYWorld1,455,1001,302,65911.7%Europe739,000726,3181.8%USA139,310117,56118.5%Mexico9,4828,05817.7%Asia-Pacific478,900373,72428.1%China405,838313,03629.6%India9,0035,51163.4%

In November, the New York Times sounded the all clear, and wrote that the black A6 still is “the automobile of choice for practically any party official or military officer with enough clout to secure one.”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 5 comments
  • Geozinger Geozinger on Feb 01, 2013

    "Audi follows a trend set by other OEMs, notably GM, and opens an R&D Center in China." What's notable is the lack of ominous overtones and fear-mongering regarding the establishment of the Audi R&D center vs. the establishment of the GM R&D center... It is nice to see that Audi follows GM again...

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Feb 01, 2013

    That CGI image shows a poor balance of RCI zoning in the area. -endsimcityjoke.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
Next