Audi says it's embracing the future with ambitious plans announced overnight.
Following a year that was impacted by the Volkswagen's diesel crisis, the company intends to push forward with its strategic transformation, details of which have just been outlined to shareholders by the Board of Management at its Annual General Meeting in Neckarsulm, Germany.
“We are rejuvenating our model portfolio enormously and will renew five existing core model series by mid-2018,” said Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG.
“In addition, we will expand our successful Q family by 2019 with two new concepts – the Audi Q8 and the Audi Q4 – and we will launch our battery-electric e-tron models.”
Audi plans to launch three new electric models by 2020, after which the brand will gradually electrify models in each of its core series.
For this year, Audi's focus is on top-end models with the new generations of the Audi A8 and Audi A7. The manufacturer will unveil the A8 at the first Audi Summit to be held in Barcelona on July 11.
Audi is also utilising all the technical know how from inside parent company Volkswagen Group to implement future technology faster and more efficiently.
In April, the brand agreed on new development cooperation with Porsche for future vehicle architectures. Part of the cooperation is the development of shared architecture platform for full-electric vehicle models.
By 2025, Audi wants fully or partially electric models to account for 30 per cent of total sales.
Audi e-ton concept car. Photo / Audi
In addition to the traditional car business, the brand will expand its range of digital services in the future.
With myAudi, the company aims to create a consistent entry into the brand’s digital world and establish a platform for a wide range of online services, which will be open also for third-party providers to offer services.
Audi is also expanding its mobility services for urban areas and intends to offer them in more than 15 markets worldwide by the end of this decade.
With a subsidiary founded in March 2017, Autonomous Intelligent Driving GmbH, Audi will take over the leading role within the Volkswagen Group in the development of autonomous driving.
The company is working on the technology for driverless vehicles in urban environments, technology that will be used among various Volkswagen Group brands. It's planned to have the new technology ready for use early in the next decade.
“We are financing our transformation out of our own resources,” said Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Finance, IT and Integrity.
“Our business operations are robust also in the currently challenging situation. On the side of expenditure and investment, our ‘Speed up!’ program is helping us to achieve a high level of efficiency and thus a maximum focus on the topics of the future.”