Audi will not seek to maximize EV production in the near future, as it responds to easing demand for the novel vehicle segment. The automaker’s new CEO, Gernot Dollner, said that the brand will continue to push internal combustion and plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as electric ones, to keep its dealers happy.
In recent years, Audi has announced plans to bring out 20 new models by 2026, with half of them being electric. However, the order in which it releases those vehicles is still flexible. Dollner believes that releasing the ICE and PHEV models soon will be better for both the automaker and consumers in the short term.
“We first looked at what order and density of launches the organization could handle,” Dollner told Bloomberg. “In the end, we decided to spread it out to not overwhelm the team and the dealerships.”
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Audi will have to start releasing vehicles soon, though, because its existing lineup is getting stale. While its main rivals, Mercedes and BMW, are also releasing ICE vehicles and EVs, but their lineups are being refreshed more consistently.
Audi is waiting on the completion of the PPE platform, a new, advanced chassis for electric vehicles that has been held back by the Volkswagen Group’s software troubles. The Q6 e-tron, which was supposed to kick off an EV onslaught for the brand (as well as Porsche and Bentley) has been delayed repeatedly to these difficulties.
Dollner, who was recently appointed by the Volkswagen Group’s new CEO, Oliver Blume, was put in charge of Audi in order to help turn the brand around. Given the difficulties that the EV market is experiencing at the moment, he sees slowing the rollout of EVs as a positive for the company.
“With this triad — our new EVs, a new generation of plug-in hybrids and internal combustion engine models — we are robustly and flexibly positioned for the transition phase.” said Dollner. He added that the EVs will continue to be important to the brand as the technology’s advantages become “visible to consumers step by step.”
The CEO explained that his goal at the company, is to turn Audi’s relevance in the “combustion segment” into relevance in the EV segment, especially in China, where the company has struggled to keep up with the competition.
