Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG Marketing and Sales, Sebastian
Mackensen, Head of Sales and Marketing for the Americas AUDI AG, and Johan de Nysschen,
President Audi of America to get a snapshot of how things are going and what’s coming in the
next few years from the four-ring brand. In a nutshell, sales are steadily increasing, up
17% on a year-to-date basis relative to 2010, and the company expects to end up with an
additional 100,000 sales over last year’s 1.1 million. China will overtake Germany soon,
with 300,000 sales there expected in 2011 (their LWB A6 is the big seller). Profits are also
on an upswing thanks to a richer mix of C and D cars–the A8, for example, has tripled its
market share (to 12%) since the new model arrived–and that’s with just one engine. So what
do we have to look forward to in the months/years to come?
A1
This stylish supermini is a super long-shot for the U.S. The notion of a $30,000 microcar is
still anathema to U.S. buyers, but won’t always be so. Audi is unlikely to ever build a car
smaller than the A1, so keep hope alive. In Europe, however, development is proceeding on
the Wankel-powered A1 e-tron, with a fleet of 20 cars on test in Munich (three of which were
available for test drives on the track inside the Audi Ring).
A3
The successor will include a sedan, and electrification is a possibility, but that model is
more than two years out as a 2015 model.
Q3
Discussions and business-case studies are ongoing about the possibility of bringing the current Q3 (which was developed protecting for U.S. regulations) to North America during this initial life cycle, or whether to wait for its next go-‘round. We can expect Audi to be maintaining a watchful eye on the BMW X3 and Mazda CX-5 in the months to come.
Q7
The next generation will drop 350 kilograms (772 lb) in its next iteration. In fact, I’m assured, all new Audi vehicles will be lighter than their predecessors.
Electric Cars
If the A2 comes to the US it may very well be in electric only form. Audi is carefully studying the early entries into our EV market. The A2 would nearly double the Nissan Leaf’s range (to 120 miles) but would probably double the price too. Audi believes this is the ideal solution for inner-city mobility, but how many Americans restrict their movements to inner cities? One Audi electric we WILL get is the R8 e-tron, with sales starting at the end of 2012.
Hybrids
The Audi engineering portfolio includes A6, A8, and Q7 hybrid models, but the company is still investigating the market viability and business cases for these models, and there is a fundamental feeling that plug-in hybrids will make more sense for more people than regular charge-sustaining hybrids. Expect a plug-in for the 2013 model year with an EV-mode range of 30-50 kilometers (18-30 miles).
Diesel
Expect clean diesel engine options to appear almost across the board “very rapidly,” says Johan de Nysschen, with the obvious exception of R8s and other extreme sports models.
