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Audi Concept C, new tech entering production

Radical vehicle development changes and VW-Rivian electrical backend coming to Audi

9 Mar 2026

By TOM BAKER in MOROCCO

WALKING the talk on its chief executive’s intent to match ‘China speed’ to market, Audi is sending a key new halo model into production by 2027 – a year ahead of rolling out a crucial electrical backend set to reduce production costs. 
 
Big changes are afoot internally at Audi as the brand seeks to radically and rapidly reinvent the way it makes cars, with CEO Gernot Döllner telling GoAuto he has slashed bureaucracy in favour of a focussed ‘project house’ model. 
 
The system, gleaned from Chinese partner SAIC, sees previously siloed engineering, product planning, design, compliance and validation, and procurement staff working together with a direct pathway for board approvals. 
 
Audi is trialling the ‘project house’ system in Europe right now with a proof-of-concept vehicle development process centring on a production version of the Concept C battery electric convertible presented at the IAA 2025 motor show in Munich. 
 
“We can learn how to set up projects in a more agile way and to streamline decision processes (while) combining that with our strengths we have in hardware and classical vehicle (engineering),” Dr Döllner told GoAuto. 
 
“The first proof point to our strategy (is) Concept C. We presented that last September (2025) and within two years, we will have it in the market. Step-by-step, we will deliver these proof points,” he said. 
 
The BEV sportscar segment in which the Concept C will compete is low-volume, but the project is seen as a perfect test-and-trial opportunity for the new approach – ahead of a possible broader rollout to high-volume Audi models. 
 
An expedited two- to three-year development time will see the Concept C share its adapted Premium Platform Electric (PPE) chassis with the Porsche 718 BEV project, even as Porsche has debated the commercial viability of this application. 
 
No such cold feet at Audi, with an internal letter to employees penned by Dr Döllner reportedly locking in the four-ringed sportscar that is based on a lightweight rear-wheel drive system.  
 
The rapid speed-to-market for Concept C meant that PPE was the obvious candidate for a platform instead of Volkswagen Group’s forthcoming next-gen Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). 
 
But even as Audi works out the kinks of its ‘project house’ approach to vehicle development, its attention is also firmly attuned to the SSP rollout in 2028. 
 
SSP will bring with it the capacity to integrate a far cheaper and simpler zonal electrical architecture developed by the Volkswagen-Rivian joint venture, which will be the next-gen replacement for Volkswagen’s previous software stack. 
 
“Right now, we are working on the battery electric SSP platform to integrate (Volkswagen-Rivian tech) there,” said Dr Döllner. 
 
“The first car from the Rivian-Volkswagen technology joint venture will hit the road in 2027, and (Audi) programs then from 2028.” 
 
Initial Audi models to benefit from the simplified and more sophisticated back end will be in what Audi refers to as the B and C segments – broadly corresponding to today’s A5/Q5 and A6/Q6 classes respectively.

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