VW CEO: ‘Audi not competitive enough’

For the time being, Audi is somewhat behind the direct competition in the field of electric driving. At the beginning of this year, it turned out that Audi sold significantly fewer EVs than BMW last year and that EV sales by Mercedes-Benz also grew faster. This is partly due to the offer. Mercedes-Benz and BMW, for example, already have an electric top limousine (EQS, i7) and they are also in the traditional E segment (BMW almost) with the EQE and i5 respectively. Meanwhile, Audi is still waiting for the electric A8 and A6.

“We have not sufficiently protected the progressive leadership role against the competition,” concludes Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume during the shareholders’ day. According to him, the position in China in particular is painful: “The footprint of the group is currently heavily dependent on China and the range of electric cars in particular is not competitive enough.” According to Blume, an important cause of the backlog is that problems have occurred in the development of new EVs. “We have encountered significant software issues that have delayed the launch of interesting electrical products,” he said Autonews.

But, there is improvement to come. Blume emphasizes that a lot is expected of the cars in the barrel, such as the Q6 e-tron that will be launched next year and, of course, the electric A6. Blume believes that the development of new EVs should go faster from now on, so there is a clear task for the brand and its CEO, Markus Duesmann. The Volkswagen Group CEO also expects a lot from electric RS models. “We’re planning one high performance electric model range. The RS franchise is very attractive from a customer and financial perspective.” The next electric RS will probably be the RS version of the Q6 e-tron. Now the only question is where the electric A8 will be… About a possible successor to Project Artemis Blume is silent in all languages ​​and with that there seems to be no electric top limousine in sight for the time being.