Audi Reworks EV Strategy as Demand Falls Short of Expectations
With EV demand proving to be good but not great, Audi won’t be going all-electric at any point in the near future, after all.
It was merely a couple of years ago when Audi announced that it planned to transition to an entirely all-electric lineup, ditching ICE completely as it fully committed to an electrified future. It backed up that plan by launching multiple new EV models over the past few years, with many more in the pipeline. For a while, things appeared to be going to plan as consumers scooped up EVs at a rapid pace, while automakers had trouble keeping up thanks to various supply chain issues, soaring raw materials prices, and other economic factors. However, times have changed through the course of 2023, and now, so have plans regarding the future of Audi, as new CEO Gernot Döllner explained in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
“We first looked at what order and density of launches the organization could handle,” Döllner said. “In the end, we decided to spread it out to not overwhelm the team and the dealerships. The advantage of EVs is becoming visible to consumers step by step. With this triad – our new EVs, a new generation plug-in hybrids and internal combustion engine models – we’re robustly and flexibly positioned for the transition phase. At the moment, we play a relevant role, especially in the combustion engine segment. Our task with both partners is to make the Audi brand a relevant player in the EV segment as well.”
To accomplish this, Audi now plans to delay the launch of the new Q6 e-tron – its first built on Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture – to Q2 2024, at which time another EV will enter production. However, those models will also be joined by two new ICE models, along with a third in 2025, though there are no other EV models among that group planned to launch between now and then.
Rather than fully commit to EVs, Audi is shifting gears in a big way, as of the 20 new models it plans to launch by 2026, only half are slated to be all-electric. As Döllner pointed out, the company’s reasoning for such a move is to reduce the burden being placed on assembly plants and dealers, but in reality, Audi’s well-documented financial struggles likely play a role here as well – which is precisely why Döllner just took over the reins of the German brand, too.
While Audi doubled its U.S. EV sales year-over-year in Q3, that total only consisted of 7,500 units, which lags far behind the competition. BMW moved 13,000 EVs over that same time period, for example, while Mercedes finished the quarter with 10,500 sales. Regardless, it’s worth noting that Audi isn’t the first automaker to push back its EV plans over the past couple of months, as both Ford and General Motors have done precisely the same, making goals flexible, scaling back investments, and delaying the launch of new models – a sign that perhaps the EV transition isn’t occurring quite as quickly as most had hoped, even as sales continue to rise.
Photos: Audi
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