May 20 is suitable for expressing love. However, the successful declaration must be the result of the agreement. Starting from this standard, it seems appropriate that Audi and SAIC announced on the same day to deepen their cooperation. On that day, SAIC Audi jointly released the ADP (Advanced Digitized Platform) intelligent digital platform with the theme of "beauty and cooperation, a new chapter". On this platform, many smart electric new cars planned by Audi and SAIC will be born.

SAIC Audi has suffered from sales difficulties since its establishment three years ago. In December last year, the monthly sales volume exceeded 7000, reaching a historical high. Both sides agree with each other that Audi and SAIC must invest more strategic resources for long-term cooperation. The official declaration of "deepening cooperation" was made last July, when the two sides officially signed a cooperation agreement. Ten months later, it was finally possible to announce significant progress in cooperation.

On the same day, both parties did not disclose the relevant technical details of the ADP platform. But at the press conference, Audi announced Ferm í n Soneira, a Volkswagen executive, as the CEO of the project. This is an unusual personnel arrangement.

For product line+technology line projects, there are few CEOs. Even though there may be multiple business CEOs appointed under a large group, at least BU (independent business unit) or BG (business group) will be established. This shows that SAIC Audi regards this project as its core business and may even dominate all future product lines. In this way, Song Feiming, who has served the public for 25 years, will take the post.

Another important factor is that in the project, Audi, SAIC and SAIC Volkswagen must have a senior manager who is beyond the department to lead and coordinate. From this perspective, it is also reasonable to set up a CEO.

In such a "super organization" structure, the most important thing is to speed up. Now, it adopts an efficient and flat organization form (CEO directly connects with the project department), digital development tools, and IT style project development philosophy. Now, SAIC Volkswagen has improved the project development cycle from 36 months to 24 months. But for SAIC Audi's "No. 1 Project", this speed should be improved. The speed and efficiency are dominated by localized SAIC Volkswagen. Song Feiming's task is to ensure that Audi's DNA will not be lost. Jia Jianxu, general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, said, "Audi is Audi... He (Song Feiming) has a veto in the project." This also means that, The new energy model launched by Audi in China with the power of SAIC is still Audi Gene, and the price should be imaginable.

In fact, both parties jointly develop new products on the basis of a new generation of digital platform, which has been planned according to the platform landing in 2026. Now "platform landing" is not used as an assessment node, but the first new product based on the ADP platform will be launched in 2025, which is a big step ahead of the plan.

Under the background of the rapid development of intelligent driving and E-E architecture digitalization, Audi has no chance to take the lead. But starting at a certain point, if it can level or even lead the industry at that time, it will regain the initiative of product line and technology, and then win the initiative of brand development.

Aim at the whole stack 3.0

It is reported that the Zero Beam Technology Team under SAIC will play a key role in the development of the ADP platform. Although the development pace is fast, SAIC Audi does not use the shelf products of Zero Beam Technology. Previously, Zhiji and Feifan have been equipped with "Zero Beam Galaxy" full stack 1.0 technology. The electric vehicle jointly developed by Audi and SAIC will be equipped with the full stack 3.0 technology, which claims to realize the four domains of "cabin, driving, computing, and connection" to centralize computing power.

Neither Song Feiming nor Li Jun, CEO of Zero Beam Technology, disclosed the details of the ADP platform. Although Jia Jianxu disclosed descriptions such as "digital mobility company", it did not help the outside world to deepen their understanding of the ADP platform.

It can be guessed that the platform probably did not completely "centralize" the computing power, and the MCU and ECU modules were reduced and merged as far as possible, but not completely cancelled. This means that there are similarities with Huawei's solutions, but they are quite different from the ideas of start-ups such as Zero Run.

The rationality of this conjecture lies in that the full stack 3.0 technology has good inheritance of 1.0 and 2.0, which also ensures the engineering cycle and system design reliability. This is also the reason why SAIC and Audi executives showed strong confidence.

Today's joint venture cooperation framework has changed from the role of foreign parties as technology output to mutual authorization and joint development, and the roles of all parties tend to be balanced. Audi is responsible for the overall product design, chassis and other mechanical parts, while SAIC is responsible for the E-E architecture, software and hardware integrated solutions. Although the latter plays an increasingly prominent role in the product force, Audi still controls the tone and style of the product, and cannot say which role is more important.

Complementary puzzle

The technology of multinational brands in the field of electric vehicles is not dominant in China. A series of electrified and intelligent products derived from the ADP platform are obviously expected to reverse the business situation. Based on this, Audi and SAIC attached great importance to this press conference, and all relevant executives were present at the platform.

From the perspective of global operation, Audi is not in the same segment as Mercedes Benz and BMW in terms of revenue and profit. The delivery volume of Audi in China in 2023 is not much behind that of Mercedes Benz and BMW. In terms of price system, Audi pays more than these two companies. However, Audi has the highest proportion of Chinese business in their respective plates, that is, the Chinese market is more important to Audi. At this time, Audi has an endogenous power to make greater investment in the Chinese market.

Audi's two Chinese partners, FAW and SAIC, are involved in disputes and have a delicate relationship. FAW Audi has a long history of establishment, complete product lines, and accumulated users and market reputation that SAIC Audi can not compare with.

Now, whether the new platform and new product line officially announced, Lenovo FAW Audi's PPE platform and the first product delivered at the end of the year (Q6 e-tron) will have direct competition between the two sides is a must for SAIC Audi to consider.

Jia Jianxu did not directly answer this question. He tried to explain that Audi's multiple platforms and product lines can coexist and excel at each other's game with the theme of "beauty and cooperation". These statements can not be completely empty. He also mentioned descriptions such as "stagger positioning" and "differentiation", and suggested that the products of ADP platform are more high-end. The definition of "high-end", to a large extent, is defined by elements such as digital and intelligent networking. What leaves us room to imagine is how these new value elements integrate with the tonality of the Audi brand.

Audi has been trying to complete the dual wheel layout and improve the dual partner system in China. This is consistent with the public's thinking. However, SAIC Audi was born too late and failed to catch up with the wave of leapfrog development of China's automobile market, so that in the early stage of product cultivation, it fell into a bitter battle.

This time, we will deepen our strategic cooperation, and from the perspective of Audi, we will make up for the weakness of China's business. We hope that the Chinese side will pull up the business when the technical capabilities are already available. SAIC Group urgently needs to open up new growth points, and has sufficient power to strengthen the joint venture business with Audi. After all, Audi, as a first-line or quasi first-line luxury brand, is an indispensable part of SAIC Group's brand puzzle.

From win-win mutual trust in principle to closer strategic coordination at a higher level, 5.20 may be a landmark for the transformation of cooperation between Audi and SAIC. However, the next level of implementation, such as channels, may also be a difficult communication process.