Due to technical challenges with the Volkswagen Group’s next-generation electric vehicle architecture—the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP)—the A4 e-tron will not enter production until at least March 2029, according to Audi CEO Gernot Döllner.
The original target was to enter production in mid-2028 that Döllner himself set in October 2025. This represents a delay of nine months and some are saying production could be further postponed to late April or May of 2029.
This delay comes after Audi CTO Rüven Möller stated that the production date “did not require adjustment.” The delay is attributed to development hurdles rather than a need to completely redesign the A4 e-tron itself.
We already know that the model will draw inspiration from the Concept C and will launch with both a sedan and Avant wagon variant, serving as one of the first vehicles built on Audi’s dedicated EV platform.
According to reports, a change that consumed several additional months is when Volkswagen adjusted its technical roadmap by upgrading the onboard electrical system from 12V to 48V without any prior allocation in the development schedule.
When the SSP platform was unveiled in July 2021, Volkswagen intended for it to eventually replace both the MEB platform—used by models like the Q4 e-tron—and the 800V PPE architecture underpinning the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron. SSP was supposed to be fully implemented this year but with the delays it’s been moved three years forward.
With the originally planned SSP variants being reduced from 8 to 4, it’s hard not to see how these delays are affecting the company. Even Other SSP-dependent models like the all-electric Golf and T-Roc have been affected with their launch being pushed back all the way to 2030. Volkswagen is also reluctant to give a date for the SSP-based models incorporating Rivian technology saying only that it is scheduled for “the late 2020s.”
