To Appease the Dealers, Audi Suspend Part of the Negotiations with SAIC

Recently, Audi China reached an agreement with China Automobile Dealers Association Audi Dealers Association and the representatives of Audi dealers. In order to appease the dealers of FAW-Volkswagen Audi, negotiation on sales and network between Audi and SAIC will be suspended.

According to the internal documents exposed on the network, Audi reached the demands of three aspects with multi-party.

1. Ensure the existing network of FAW- Volkswagen Audi dealers and future competitiveness and profitability;

2. Improve the network operation and management ability of district sales in Audi Sales Division;

3. Next steps of the cooperation plan between Audi and SAIC.

For the first and second issues, the internal executive of Audi China has already started to organize negotiation team for processing. For issue 3, as the FAW-Volkswagen Audi dealers did not reach a consensus on the cooperation between Audi and SAIC, Audi agreed to suspend the talks on sales and network with SAIC. Under the condition that the present dealers network have long-term and stable earnings, further negotiations with SAIC would be conducted after the dealers agreed with dealers association. Before the end of March in 2017, the negotiation between Audi, SAIC and FAW- Volkswagen Audi Dealers Association has to be started, if necessary, FAW group will also be invited to participate in.　

Previously, FAW-Volkswagen Audi dealers had threatened to stop picking up the car from the factory to protest on December 1. However, On 30 November, at the last minute, Audi avoid breaching with the present dealers through the agreement, allowing leeway for future negotiations. About the cooperation between Audi and SAIC Volkswagen and the related events, we also will continue to focus on.