A month ago a German grey importer was offering a 787 hp Audi that Audi does not sell in Europe. Audi has now gone to law to stop it.
An Audi spokesperson confirmed on 21 September 2026: "We have initiated legal proceedings against the importer and will enforce our rights consistently." The target is Auto China, which had been listing the AUDI E5 Sportback at 59,980 euros and the AUDI E7X SUV at 72,900 euros, both before VAT.
What is being claimed
The action rests on trademark and brand rights rather than on anything mechanical. Audi's public reasoning is that both cars were "exclusively developed for the Chinese market" and designed around the needs of Chinese customers — the models built with SAIC under a sub-brand that drops the four rings from the badge.
Audi has not publicly cited warranty coverage, homologation or type approval as grounds, which is notable given that those are the practical risks a buyer would face. No court has ruled, and neither the specific court nor the precise legal instrument has been disclosed.
The commercial effect arrived before any judgment. Both models have been removed from Auto China's website. So have the Li Auto vehicles the same importer was listing, which suggests the importer has pulled back further than the claim against it strictly required.
This closes a route we described as open
When TeslAnt covered the tariff table behind the E5's German price in August, the conclusion was that the car's absence from European showrooms was a decision rather than a prohibition. Volkswagen Group had said it had "no plans at this time" to export its China-exclusive EVs to Europe, and had left a third-party importer to serve whoever would absorb the duty, the VAT and the margin.
That is the part that has changed. Audi is no longer indifferent to the grey route; it is litigating it shut. A buyer who wanted an E5 in Germany had one supplier, and that supplier has stopped listing it.
Why the price never travelled, and why Tesla is the exception
The economics are worth restating because they explain why this market exists at all.
| Route into Europe | Effective cost |
|---|---|
| AUDI E5 Sportback in China | just under 34,000 USD |
| Same car imported to Germany, incl. VAT | about 71,400 EUR |
The EU's definitive countervailing duties on China-built battery-electric cars, in force since 30 October 2024, run from 7.8% to 35.3% on top of the standard 10% car import duty, and they are company-specific. SAIC, which builds the E5, drew the top rate of 35.3%.
Tesla drew the lowest, 7.8%, after its own individual examination. Both firms build cars in Shanghai. One can put a Shanghai-built car on a European price list at an ordinary price; the other cannot — and now the workaround has a lawsuit attached to it.
What it means for a European buyer
If you were considering an imported AUDI E5 as an alternative to a Model Y or a European premium EV, treat it as unavailable for now. There is no ruling, so the position could change, but the listings are gone and the importer's own retreat is broader than the claim.
The wider signal is about Chinese-built EVs reaching European buyers at all. The duty schedule made them expensive; a manufacturer is now testing whether brand rights can make them unobtainable.