Volkswagen’s plan to capture the Southern Chinese market where Japanese brands rule the roost took a step forward earlier today when the first Audi Q3 came off the Foshan production lines.

The Audi Q3 is currently imported into China from Europe and is nearly on par with the Audi Q5 in terms of pricing thanks to import taxes which boost the prices, a locally Chinese made product is likely to be in the 280,000RMB and rising price area.

The Chinese made Q3 will carry the same 2.0T engine as the Q5 with 170bhp or 211bhp on tap and also the option of front wheel drive or all wheel drive systems. Gear changing responsibilities come from a 8 speed DCT unit as with other Audi models.