Audi has recently confirmed that it will launch high-performance electric cars starting 2020.
Besides this, the German automaker will also introduce some performance-oriented models that will be based on SUVs. The outgoing CEO of Audi Sport, Stephan Winkelmann who will be joining Bugatti from January 2018 stated at the launch of RS4 that Audi will now be “less evolutionary and more into revolution”. The information on what exact models will be arriving with an electric powertrain is unknown at the moment. Commenting on the arrival of Audi’s electric performance cars, Winkelmann said, “The start of the introduction of battery electric vehicles from 2020 onwards. This will start by the end of 2020, with the first car of Audi Sport, and then there will be more coming, in the third decade of this millennium.”
“We are also looking into cars which are – let’s say – in a growing segment or a body segment, which is growing. These are the Qs. We will get more of them and we think that this is going to help us because every car we are building, and every car that we are investing in, should have global visibility – not just in Europe but in Asia and the Americas”, he added further.
Audi Sport was rebranded from Quattro last year and the top honcho says that the company’s iconic models will continue to be there in the coming years. He said that in the next two to three years, Audi will have a lot of turbo engines and the product portfolio will see new vehicles. The company says that even if electrification is important for Audi, it will not leave turbo engines for the reason that it is very proud of them.
Leading automakers entering into the electric space is not a very new and surprising thing. All thanks to the Government of India’s 2032 pure electric vision, top car makers have started looking at eco-friendly mobility seriously and are busy working on their electric projects dedicatedly. Recently, Tata Motors and Mahindra have bagged the EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Limited) tender to manufacture 10,000 electric cars that is seen as a big step towards green mobility in India. However, companies like Audi are still some time away from launching EVs in India as they aren’t focussing on cost-effective mass-market vehicles, which is what India needs for achieving its electric mobility goal.
