Audi stays the course on EVs despite market slowdown

Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said the VW Group premium brand was committed to going fully electric starting in 2033 despite a market slowdown, as it launched two key EVs this year, the Q6 E-tron SUV and the A6 sedan, a sibling model.

The last new Audi internal-combustion engine models will be launched in 2026, Döllner said Tuesday at the automaker’s annual news conference in Ingolstadt, Germany. Those models will be built on the new Premium Platform Combusion, or PPC, architecture, which will debut this year on the next-generation A5 and Q5. The A5 and Q5 will also benefit from a new electric/electronic architecture, Döllner said.

The Q6 E-tron is the first model on the Porsche/Audi Premium Platform Electric, or PPE, architecture, which it shares with the Porsche Macan. It will arrive at dealerships in the second half after a delay of over two years partly due to software issues.

“Our vision is quite clear. We’re fully committed to electric mobility,” Döllner said, adding that a combination of full-electric, ICE and plug-in hybrid models would be available in all regions for the 10 years, with an EV-only lineup expected around 2033. “But if there are waves or fluctuations in the transition we can react to them.”

Audi wants to earn as much money from electric cars as from combustion engines by the end of the decade. Currently, EVs bring in about 28 percent of revenue, with ICE models at 72 percent, Audi said Tuesday.