With electric cars and plug-in hybrids on the rise, Audi predict customers will favour the e-model and in 2025 alone, aim to sell 800,000.
For every third customer to decide in favour of an e-model by the middle of the next decade, there is to be an electrified variant in each model series and by 2025, most of them are to be fully electric, with a smaller proportion as plug-in hybrids.
In order to launch resources for the package of investments amounting to billions of euros, Audi adopted its Action and Transformation Plan towards the end of last year. It has the intentions of tapping into new revenue sources, improving economic structures and accelerating the corporate transformation regarding new business models to considerably increase the scope for investment. By 2025, approximately €40 billion is to flow into areas including: e-mobility, autonomous driving, digitisation and the digitisation of production.
“Our ambition has always been and will continue to be Vorsprung durch Technik,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “Our goal is to revolutionize mobility. Also in electric mobility, we want to become the Number 1 among the premium manufacturers – with full suitability for everyday use, no compromises, top quality and driving pleasure for the customer. With our technological excellence, we are utilizing our Vorsprung and lifting electric mobility to the next level.”
The Audi e-tron prototype is the first result of the Roadmap E initiative which will electrify its complete portfolio by 2025. This also encompasses investment in the German plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm as well as clarification of job security until the end of 2025.
The product fireworks involves over 20 electrified models in rapid succession until 2025. In 2019, the second fully-electric model, Audi e-tron Sportback, will be launched. Audi e-tron GT will be the next release from Audi Sport in 2020 and the company will also offer an electric model in the premium compact segment in the same year.
For its Roadmap E, the company is making systematic use of two major Volkswagen Group synergy levers in the area of development. In addition to the Modular Electric Toolkit developed by Volkswagen for the compact segment, Audi and Porsche are joining forces to implement the premium-architecture electrification for mid-range, full-size and luxury-class electric cars. Collaborations between companies such as this, reduce development costs substantially. For the customer, it means choices from a broad portfolio for emission-free driving are made available quickly and efficiently.
With electric mobility, Audi takes a holistic, resource-conserving approach.In Brussels, the production of Audi e-tron is the first premium car to be manufactured in certified CO2-neutral high-volume production. Audi's objective is to make all of its production sites worldwide CO2 neutral by 2030.
At the market launch of the e-tron, customers in Europe will benefit from a high-performance charging infrastructure. Audi is making a significant contribution to that development through the Ionity joint venture. Audi e-tron will be the first of its kind as it can be charged at rapid-charging stations with up to 150 kilowatts. This will make the electric SUV ready for the next long distance in just under 30 minutes. Its lithium-ion battery provides a range of more than 400 kilometers in the WLTP driving cycle.
For the first time, the e-tron prototype will offer Audi customers the opportunity to flexibly book functions such as driver assistance systems or infotainment features also after the vehicle is bought. More digital content and services will gradually be made available to passengers. Audi aims to generate operating profit of €1 billion with such new business models by 2025.
“Just in time for the 50th anniversary of Vorsprung durch Technik, we will also present our first autonomous electric car based on our Audi Aicon show car in 2021. An interurban shuttle with lounge character – initially in a pilot fleet and around the middle of the decade as a series-production car for automated driving,” says Peter Mertens, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development at AUDI AG.
“Worldwide, we are accelerating the implementation of new, profitable business models in those areas that will be essential for our industry in the future,” says Alexander Seitz, Member of the Board of Management for Finance at AUDI AG. “Since January, we have implemented the first measures of the Action and Transformation Plan amounting to a low three-digit million figure. Identified measures will have a sustained effect and a long-term impact on revenue and costs. We will therefore gain the greatest benefits as of 2020, when our plan unfolds its full power, yielding a total of €10 billion by 2022. Audi will thus be able to secure its strong profitability despite high levels of investment.”