 Special long-term strategic cooperation of up to ten years

 Construction of a new wheel factory in Eastern Europe

 Focus on carbon-reduced production with optimized costs

Ingolstadt, January 16, 2020 – Working together in new ways: Audi and the wheel maker Cromodora have made an agreement for an especially long-term cooperative undertaking that will last for up to ten years. Cromodora will build a new wheel plant in Eastern Europe exclusively for Audi and the Volkswagen Group. Production, scheduled to begin in 2023, will be cost-effective on the one hand, sustainable and resource-efficient on the other hand. Audi guarantees to Cromodora the sourcing of its wheels for a specified period of time.

The new plant on a Greenfield site gives the partners the opportunity to create sustainable processes from the very beginning. Since the end of 2018, Audi’s carbon program has pursued the goal of reducing emissions in the supply chain in collaboration with its partners. In CO2 workshops, Cromodora and Audi are therefore already exchanging ideas about measures to achieve sustainability. The aim is to use green power, secondary materials, minimized consumption of fresh water, and certification by the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative. Internal loop systems, too, are to be established, for example to re-use waste material in the plant’s own production.

For both partners it is equally important to make production highly cost-efficient. Audi and Cromodora have therefore agreed transparent, optimized cost structures. Risks are shared by the two partners, for example if the costs of raw materials rise. Furthermore, the new plant will meet the high quality aims and standards of the premium manufacturer Audi.

“Through our strategic cooperation with Cromodora we are creating a new form of collaboration, from which both sides benefit,” said Dr. Bernd Martens, member of the board of management responsible for Procurement and IT. “The new plant is also a textbook example of our ability to work economically and at the same time sustainably.” Ermanno Pedrini, CEO and Board Member, declares that Cromodora is honored about the agreement which fulfills the great work of the company’s management and staff. Such an investment will further strengthen the partnership with Audi and it will allow to consolidate its efforts carried out in the existing facilities in recent years.