During an interview at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, new Audi sales chief Hildegard Wortmann said that her company is ready to go on the offensive in order to win back the ground they lost to rivals Mercedes and BMW.
She explained the plan is to focus on a young product lineup and a far-reaching restructuring program, the latter meant to trim the German workforce by about 15% through 2025, in turn lifting earnings by $6.7 billion, reports Autonews Europe.
“We want to attack again,” stated Wortmann, who joined Audi last year from BMW. “Deep changes are needed, but I see great willingness across the organization to turn things around, and that makes me optimistic.”
“Everyone kept talking for years about industry disruption. Now it’s here,” she added.
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Going forward, Audi also wants to raise back profit margins to about 10% from the 7% to 8.5% forecast for 2019. Other plans also include ceasing production of the TT Coupe and replacing it with a battery-powered successor, while the possibility of a fully electric next-gen A8 flagship still exists.
“It’s a sign of courage to stop making icons like the TT that have shaped the brand and create new ones like the e-tron GT for a new era.”
Audi wants to add roughly 10 plug-in hybrids and 20 battery-electric cars by 2025 to its lineup, which in total would give them a higher number of electrified models than Mercedes and BMW.
