Audi ‘Artemis’ to create new EV

A “highly efficient electric car” will go on-sale as soon as 2024 created by a new Audi division tasked with cutting development time for new models.

Dubbed Project Artemis, the models it will be responsible for are in addition to the 75 EVs already planned for introduction by the Volkswagen Group by 2029.

“The obvious question was how we could implement additional high-tech benchmarks without jeopardizing the manageability of existing projects, and at the same time utilize new opportunities in the markets,” said new Audi CEO Markus Duesmann when launching Project Artemis.

Duesmann said key Artemis assets would be its quickness and a lack of bureaucracy. It can draw on the resources of the entire VW Group and will its learnings back in as well.

Limited details about the new EV were released by Audi, but it will be highly automated.

Intriguingly, the Artemis team will develop an “extensive ecosystem” around the car, “thus designing a new business model for the entire usage phase”.

At a guess that sounds like the Artemis EV will be aimed at mass transpit and ride sharing roles.

Reinforcing that, the engineer in charge of Project Artemis previously oversaw Volkswagen Group’s autonomous driving development.

Alex Hitzinger also spent three years at Apple where he worked on the Silicon Valley mega-company’s autonomous vehicle program.

Hitzinger also has a strong motorsport history, which should help him achieve quick development times.

“In the medium term, I expect ‘Artemis’ to provide a blueprint for a fast and agile development process at the Group, as agile as in a racing team,” said Duesmann.

Audi will launch its first EV model, the e-tron,  in Australia in September. It will be followed by the e-tron Sportback, the e-tron GT and the Q4 e-tron.