Audi has delayed the introduction of the new electric A4 until 2029 as development of the Volkswagen Group's long-awaited Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) faces further setbacks.
The new electric saloon, conceived as a direct rival to the electric-powered BMW i3, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Tesla Model 3, was originally planned to enter production at Audi's Ingolstadt plant in Germany in 2028 as one of the first models based on the SSP architecture.
However, Autocar understands that production of the A4 E-tron is now not planned to begin before 2029. That leaves Audi without a contender in the increasingly competitive mid-sized exec EV class, into which rivals BMW and Mercedes have recently pitched the i3 and C-Class EVs respectively.
The delay leaves Audi facing a significant gap in its electric model line-up: the ICE A4 – renamed A5 in its latest generation – has traditionally played a key role in the German car maker’s annual sales, and the electric equivalent was expected to be a similarly important contributor.
It also represents another setback for the SSP, following sibling brand Volkswagen’s announcement that development of the electric Mk9 Golf on that platform had been delayed due to cost constraints.
When the 800V SSP was announced in 2021, it was intended eventually to replace not only today’s 400V MEB and 800V PPE platforms for EVs but also the MQB, MLB and MSB architectures used by the group’s sprawling ICE car line-up.
At the time, the group intended to develop a single architecture that could be used across different segments and drivetrain classes, rather than continuing with separate platforms.
Production of SSP models was originally planned to begin in 2026, with the Volkswagen Group projecting that more than 40 million vehicles would eventually be based on it. The new architecture was described as “all-electric, fully digital and highly scalable”, with common hardware, batteries and software providing greater economies of scale across its brands.
Five years later, the introduction of the SSP as the basis for a new generation of VW Group models has slipped by at least three years.
Volkswagen is due to be the first brand to use SSP: it will underpin an electric T-Roc SUV that will spawn a closely related electric Golf in short order. The two models are planned to be produced at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg plant in Germany as part of a wide-ranging restructuring of the firm's European manufacturing operations, with the ICE Golf moving to Puebla in Mexico.
