With Audi boss Markus Duesmann, VW CEO Herbert Diess has a close (if not the closest) comrade in matters of e-mobility in his own group. Volkswagen wants to move away from combustion engines and its subsidiary brands have to go along with it for better or for worse. Duesmann agrees that the transformation should not take place the day after tomorrow, but tomorrow.
Burn off before 2030?
According to Manager Magazin, the top Audi employee is planning to exit the conventional combustion engine market much earlier than his predecessor. The last gasoline engine is to roll off the assembly line at Audi by 2030 at the latest, the diesel could be dropped earlier. Even in plug-in hybrids, the ex-BMW man apparently sees no perspective and predicts the imminent end of state subsidies.
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The bone of contention is hydrogen
Unlike Porsche boss Oliver Blume, Markus Duesmann is of the opinion that hydrogen is unsuitable for use in cars. Duesmann had already said this to Die Zeit last year. However, the Ingolstadt-based company apparently wants to stick to the development of synthetic fuels (e-fuels), for example for the existing fleet of millions. Nevertheless, it should be clear that the focus is on battery-electric locomotion.
Exact schedule known
If the report in Manager Magazin has its way, there is already a concrete schedule for the planned changes. The Audi A4 and Audi A6 will have a last successor with gasoline and diesel engines in 2023, but will not keep the combustion engines until the end of the model life cycle. Rather, the series should gradually advance purely electrically.
End planned for the Audi A8?
An even more radical change could be imminent for the Audi A8. At the end of 2021 there will be a final facelift of the current model, after which the luxury class sedan will possibly compete with the Mercedes-Benz EQS (the electric S-Class) based on a purely electric platform. It is not known whether the previous series name will endure.
The new Audi e-tron GT should show the future
Until Audi has arrived in the beautiful new mobility future, Duesmann should primarily deal with the legacy of its predecessors. Outstanding decisions in the emissions dispute and electric cars on combustion platforms (MLB evo) are an obstacle to future developments.
The world premiere of the Audi e-tron GT on February 9, 2021 (concept vehicle, homologation pending²) should be a ray of hope. For the first time, an electric Audi will be based on a pure electric car platform (J1) that was developed in cooperation with Porsche. (Text: tv | Pictures: Manufacturer)