As we know, Audi is part of the Volkswagen group, one of the auto manufacturers with the most ambitious electrification plans. They seek to produce 22 million electric cars within the next decade. A lot of those electric cars will be from Audi. Now, after their annual shareholder meeting and letter, we have some more insight into how they plan to contribute.
Both the Audi TT Coupe and Convertible will be replaced by an electric car in the next few years. The A8 and even possibly the R8 could have a similar fate. This is not the first time we are hearing about an electric hypercar replacing the infamous Audi R8. It will be interesting to see if the Audi TT will be replaced with an electric convertible as currently, none exist.
“In a few years, we will replace the TT with a new emotive model in the same price range: with an electric car. As I said, focusing also means leaving out. For example, the R8 sports car. Do we need a successor with a combustion engine? Does this fit in with our vision? The discussion will give us an answer to that.”
In the next two years, Audi plans to launch five fully-electric vehicles and seven plug-in hybrid models. By 2025, Audi wants to have over 30 different electrified models in their lineup with 20 of them fully electric. The company is going all in and expects 40% of all worldwide car sales to be electric by 2025.
The company is also planning on making all of their factories worldwide CO2 neutral by 2025.
“With its company-wide sustainability roadmap, Audi has set itself the goal of successively making the entire vehicle lifecycle CO2-neutral: from production to the use and recycling of Audi models. By consistently reducing CO2 emissions and switching to renewable energy sources, unavoidable emissions will be offset.”
Of the €40 billion budget Audi has set going into 2023, €14 billion will be used for electric mobility, digitalization, and highly automated driving.
The Audi A8, A7, A6, and Q5 are all already available with a plug-in variant. Audi also introduced the fully electric Audi E Tron earlier this year with deliveries in the U.S already beginning. The E Tron GT, Audi’s electric sportscar, is set to begin production next year. We also know of an E Tron Sportsback and possibly a Q4 E Tron coming soon. At the Shanghai Auto Show, Audi introduced a couple electric cars for the Chinese market.
