About turn on 2032 promise: Audi joins the rush to abandon EV-only commitment
Audi has cancelled its plans to only build electric cars from 2023 and announced it will begin developing a new generation of combustion and hybrid vehicles that could include the return of the wild Audi R8 supercar.
Previously, Volkswagen Group Audi said that it would roll out its last petrol-powered vehicle in 2026 and only sell battery-electric cars from 2032 onwards.
But declining demand globally for EVs has now triggered a radical rethink.
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Audi, which has just launched the Q4 and Q6 e-trons in Australia, is far from alone in this change. Volvo has extended ICE deadlines both globally and in Australia, while Mercedes-Benz and BMW are also shying away from an all-EV future any time soon.
Announcing the brand’s new strategy during Audi’s 2024 financial results, the car-maker’s CEO Gernot Döllner confirmed Audis would continue to be powered by internal combustion engines long after 2032.
“As part of our product initiative, we are not only launching new electric models, but also a new generation of combustion engine vehicles and plug-in hybrids,” Döllner said.
“2032 was the date we had communicated, but we have to reassess those dates and deadlines.
“On balance, an extension of combustion engines will have a positive impact on our business model.”
During his speech the Audi boss was careful not to be drawn on a new date for when Audi would switch to EVs, instead he suggested both hybrids and plug-in hybrids would play a bigger and more prolonged role until the full switch to electric cars.
The original EV-only date was announced by Audi back in 2021, with the German car-maker insisting it would only build zero-emission vehicles for all global markets except China.
It’s now thought the real date it might stop making petrol and diesel powered cars might be in 2035 when Europe bans all combustion vehicles, including hybrids.
However, that cut-off date doesn’t extend to China and the US.
According to reports Audi says it will no longer invest in a new generation of diesel engines but says the Euro 7 compliant mild-hybrid turbo-diesels under the bonnet of the latest A5 and A6 would remain in production for as long as it could produce them.
In 2024 global deliveries of Audi models were down by a significant 11.8 per cent to 1,671,218 cars with the brand suffering a drop in sales in every region it is on-sale.
Out of all the cars it sold, just 164,000 were EVs.
In response to the sales slump Audi says it will axe 7500 jobs by 2029 and find cost savings amounting to more than one billion Euros ($1.7b) annually.
