Audi has made it clear that it plans to introduce a type of new electrified car each year, and this will start a few years from now. Rupert Stadler, the automaker’s CEO stated that beginning in the year 2018, the company will introduce a different electrified vehicle every year. He said this during an Annual General Meeting of Audi that was held at its Ingolstadt, Germany, headquarters. Aside from minimizing its average carbon output by its fleet, Audi’s plan could be in reaction to the scandal of diesel emissions that revolved around the Volkswagen Group as well as other car manufacturers.
The American president of the automaker, Scott Keogh had previously stated to Autoblog that at least one in every four models of Audi cars will be an electric one by the year 2025. This plan needs to begin with the highly anticipated pure electric car crossover whose basis should be the concept of E-Tron Quattro. This concept was shown for the first time at the 2015’s Frankfurt Motor Show. According to Audi’s expectations, the crossover’s range would be approximately 310 miles, which is a substantially high range in comparison to other models by the automaker.
With the information currently available, it is not yet clear what market niche or classes are to be targeted by the planned electric vehicles. Also, there is no official information on whether the said cars will be pure electric, hybrids, extended-range electric or plug-in hybrid cars. There is a high possibility that these new electric cars will be a blend of the mentioned types. They will most likely differ in terms of class and price to suit the variable market or consumers. This means that there will be something for everyone, both middle and high-price customers.
On a similar note, the major competitor of Audi, BMW, is employing the same strategy. Just like Audi, this automaker has announced its plan to introduce at least one electric car each year beginning in the year 2018. The anticipated iNext electric car is expected to be officially launched in 2021, with a promise of having a semi-autonomous driving mode. BMW has also made predictions that by 2025, it will have a fleet of fully autonomous cars.
Additionally, Audi made an announcement stating that its next A8 flagship is expected to officially debut this coming year. The A8 is expected to have the provision of autonomous driving at high speeds of up to thirty-seven miles per hour. All we can do now is to wait and see whether these two automakers will keep their promises.