Audi CEO Gernot Dollner announced that the production of the A4 e-tron is delayed until March 2029. This schedule represents a nine-month shift from the previous target of mid-2028. Reports from Handelsblatt suggest that the launch could potentially slip further to late April or early May 2029.
The delay stems from technical challenges within the Volkswagen Group's Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). Volkswagen decided to upgrade the vehicle electrical system from 12V to 48V mid-development, which required significant engineering adjustments from both the group and its suppliers.
Volkswagen introduced the SSP architecture in July 2021 with an initial goal to launch by 2026. The platform is intended to replace the MEB and PPE architectures. However, the timeline has slipped by approximately three years, and the company has reduced the number of planned SSP versions from eight to four.
Other models relying on the SSP platform face similar delays. The electric versions of the Golf and T-Roc may not arrive until 2030. Meanwhile, vehicles incorporating Rivian technology based on the SSP platform are currently scheduled for release by the end of the 2020s.
