Automotive News Europe — 2024-03-19
Automotive Industry
CEO Gernot Döllner confirms that Volkswagen Group premium brand will launch final ICE models in 2026, with EVs in all "core segments" by 2027.
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said the Volkswagen Group premium brand was committed to going fully electric starting in 2033 despite a market slowdown, as it launches two key EVs in 2024, the Q6 E-tron SUV and the A6 sedan, a sibling model.
The last new Audi internal-combustion engine models will be launched in 2026, Döllner said Tuesday, 19 March 2024, at the automaker’s annual news conference in Ingolstadt, Germany. Those models will be built on the new Premium Platform Combusion, or PPC, architecture, which will debut in 2024 on the next-generation A5 and Q5. The A5 and Q5 will also benefit from a new electric/electronic architecture, Döllner said.
The Q6 E-tron is the first model on the Porsche/Audi Premium Platform Electric, or PPE, architecture, which it shares with the Porsche Macan. It will arrive at dealerships in the second half after a delay of over two years partly due to software issues.
“Our vision is quite clear. We’re fully committed to electric mobility,” Döllner said, adding that a combination of full-electric, ICE and plug-in hybrid models would be available in all regions for the 10 years, with an EV-only lineup expected around 2033. “But if there are waves or fluctuations in the transition we can react to them.”
Audi wants to earn as much money from electric cars as from combustion engines by the end of the decade. Currently, EVs bring in about 28% of revenue, with ICE models at 72%, Audi said Tuesday, 19 March 2024.
Döllner said Audi was preparing its largest new model initiative in its history, with about 20 launches planned through the end of 2025, although he did not distinguish between face-lifts and completely new cars.
In addition to the new Q6 and A6, by 2027 Audi will have a full-electric vehicle in “all core segments,” Döllner said.
He said Audi would launch an EV that would sit below the A4/Q4 compact models “in the medium term.”
“This is something we’ve been discussing very actively in the past few months,” he said. “In the medium term an additional EV below the Q4 will be launched.” He described it as a “unique, independent vehicle concept” that would be produced at the Ingolstadt factory.
'Transition year' in 2024
Döllner and CFO Jürgen Rittersberger described 2024 as a “transition” year, with potentially lower sales, partly due to the introduction of new models as that usually means a drop in delivery figures ahead of the new launches. The brand’s global sales in 2023 were about 1.9 m, an increase of 17%. Sales of EVs were up by 51%.
Cash inflow will fall to between €2.5 bn and €3.5 bn ($2.71 bn and $3.79 bn), partly because investments in the new vehicles are imminent. In addition, there will be some continued supply bottlenecks, Rittersberger said.
The CFO said Audi had launched an austerity program to achieve its goal of a 14% return on sales, including improved sales and lower product costs, but did not give details. Return on sales in 2023 was 9%.