(Yicai) Aug. 16 -- Audi’s joint venture in China with Chinese auto giant FAW Group will launch new-generation fuel and electric vehicle models from next year, as part of the German luxury carmaker’s global brand transformation, according to the executive vice president of FAW-Audi’s the sales subsidiary.

From next year, FAW-Audi will launch the A5L, Q5L, Q6L e-tron, and A6L e-tron based on the Premium Platform Combustion and Premium Platform Electric, as well as import other new models, including the A5 Avant, S5, and S5 Avant, Li Fenggang told Yicai.

Given the increasingly fierce automotive market, Audi initiated Audi Agenda, a global brand transformation model that intends to launch more than 20 new car models, including battery EVs, plug-in vehicles, and next-generation combustion engine cars, by the end of next year.

Audi’s first model based on the PPC platform, the A5, has been already unveiled overseas. The extended version A5L will be produced and sold in China through FAW-Audi, Li noted. The A5L targets younger consumers in terms of design and technology and aims to compete with the BMW 5 Series, he added.

“In the future, the automobile market will be dominated by pure EVs, plug-in hybrids, and fossil fuel-powered cars,” Li predicted. “Even after 10 or 15 years, gasoline vehicles will still account for 30 percent of the market, so FAW-Audi will continue to invest in them while improving EV sales.”

In the first half of the year, Audi’s sales declined 2 percent to 322,018 units from a year earlier. FAW Audi sold 301,600 of them, and SAIC-Audi 18,300, down 5 percent and up 107 percent, respectively, in the period.

SAIC Audi is the JV in China of Audi and Shanghai-based carmaking giant SAIC Motor. It mainly produces high-end models.

In May, Audi and SAIC announced they will co-develop a new platform focused on the Chinese market and launch the first model based on it next year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione