Audi is preparing an aggressive (and possibly desperate) plan to electrify its lineup following the disastrous
diesel emissions scandal. CEO Rupert Stadler announced the plan during the company’s Annual General Meeting in Ingolstadt.
“Starting in 2018, we will launch another electrified car each year,” Stadler said. This is easily the most dramatic statement we’ve heard about electrification since Audi of America President Scott Keogh told
Autoblog that
one out of every four Audi models will have some kind of plug-in capacity by 2025.
This new push for electrics will kick off with Audi’s long-awaited all-electric
CUV. We’ve already known about this guy for a while – according to our conversation with Keogh, it will be based on the
E-Tron Quattro Concept first shown at the
2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. And earlier this year, Audi even went as far as
confirming its Brussels, Belgium factory will screw together the new
EV. Speaking of those batteries, Audi expects them to match the 310-mile range promised by the E-Tron Quattro. What we’re really eager to see, of course, is what Audi has planned after 2018. Will we get an all-electric
A4 to battle the
Tesla Model 3? An
A7 E-Tron to challenge the
Model S? Or will Audi go with a segment Tesla hasn’t exploited yet? Expect a few years before we get answers to those questions.
Beyond the EV announcement, Stadler also confirmed the next-generation
Audi A8 will debut in 2017. The new
luxury sedan will be capable of driving itself at speeds up to 37 miles per hour, fitting with previous reports. From there, Stadler expects to “see fully automated driving” by 2025.
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