BERLIN — Audi will finish manufacturing of recent inner combustion engine fashions by the tip of 2026 and focus solely on full-electric drivetrains, German media experiences mentioned.
After 2026, the automaker will solely develop battery-powered fashions, based on Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive Information Europe, and a report in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung
The choice was introduced by Audi CEO Markus Duesmann at a administration assembly on the automaker’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, on Thursday, based on the experiences, which cited firm sources.
Though Audi plans to cease manufacturing of recent gasoline, diesel and hybrid automobiles, its new fashions launched by 2026 will proceed to be constructed and offered till the early 2030s. After that point, Audi will turn out to be a purely electrical automotive maker.
In keeping with Automobilwoche, the A3 and A4 is not going to have combustion-engine successors however will likely be changed by the battery-powered A3 e-tron and A4 e-tron. The electrical evolution of Audi’s A5 and A6 fashions will observe the same timetable, German industry paper Handelsblatt said.
The final inner combustion engine mannequin constructed by Audi will possible be the Q8, which is able to launch in 2026 alongside an electrical variant, the Q8 e-tron. The inner combustion engine Q8 will then be produced till 2032, Handelsblatt mentioned, citing unnamed sources inside Audi.
In April, Audi introduced plans to promote the A6 e-tron full-electric automotive alongside the usual A6 inner combustion engine fashions when it goes on sale in early 2023. An A6 e-tron concept unveiled on the Shanghai auto present in April has a 100-kilowatt-hour battery that may enable a spread of over 700 km (435 miles) in manufacturing kind.
It is going to be Audi’s second automobile constructed on the PPE (premium platform electrical) structure developed with Porsche, following the Q6 e-tron giant SUV attributable to be launched within the second half of 2022.
Audi plans to develop its full-electric lineup to twenty fashions globally by 2025, Duesmann said in March. Audi and Volkswagen Group sister model Porsche plan to promote 7 million automobiles based mostly on the PPE platform by 2030.
Audi’s present full-electric automobiles are the e-tron, e-tron Sportback and e-tron GT. The e-tron and e-tron Sportback are based mostly on Audi’s MLB Evo platform whereas the e-tron GT shares its J1 platform with the Porsche Taycan.
Audi’s shift to electric-only goes additional than its rival German luxurious manufacturers, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which plan a extra cautious swap to full electrification.
Mercedes mentioned in March it will speed up its shift to electrical automobiles however supplied no particulars of how briskly its automotive lineup will go electrical. BMW says it expects half of its gross sales to be fully-electric fashions by 2030.
Different automakers have introduced agency plans to go all-electric as legislators in Europe and different key markets impose harder emissions limits to struggle local weather change and air air pollution.
Ford mentioned in February that it’s going to promote solely full-electric passenger automobiles in Europe by 2030. The Jaguar model, identified for its efficiency sports activities automobiles, will turn out to be all-electric beginning in 2025, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore mentioned, additionally in February.
Volvo has mentioned all of its automobiles will likely be battery-electric autos by 2030. Bentley mentioned in November that it’s going to drop inner combustion engines from its automobiles by 2030 and swap its whole mannequin vary to full-electric autos.