Audi confirms Q4

Audi chairman Rupert Stadler has announced the German premium car-maker will produce a coupe-style Q4 crossover within two years.

Stadler confirmed production of the all-new SUV, based on the Audi TT Offroad concept from the 2014 Beijing motor show, by 2019 during the Audi’s annual press conference yesterday in Ingolstadt, Germany.

He also reiterated that every Audi model will have at least one 48-volt mild-hybrid version before 2025, which will cut fuel consumption figures by at least 1L/100km, even in the switch to real-world testing.

As Stadler announced at last week's Paris show, the mild hybrids will be joined by at least three new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) within the next three years, starting with the production — in Brussels next year — of an all-new, pure-electric SUV based on the e-tron Quattro concept from the 2015 Frankfurt show.

This will be followed by a compact, urban-focused EV and a third model in 2020, when the Volkswagen Group will open its pilot lithium-ion battery factory.

The first of the electric cars will ride on the C-BEV platform, which is essentially a heavily modified MLB EVO architecture (which sits beneath everything from the A4 to the Q7), while later models will switch to the Volkswagen Group’s dedicated electric MEB architecture. The Volkswagen Group’s only other electric architecture is the J1 platform for Porsche’s Mission E.

Stadler also reiterated Audi's promise to deliver eight new models and six RS Audi Sport performance cars by the end of 2018, including a new A8 limousine, new A7 Sportback, new A6 sedan, wagon and allroad, new A1 Sportback, new Q3 crossover, all-new Q8 flagship SUV and the all-new electric SUV.

Stadler also announced that Audi’s 2016 revenue had increased to €59.3 billion for 2016, and that it achieved an 8.2 per cent operating profit before expenses, or 5.1 per cent and €3.1 billion after its Dieselgate and Takata airbag costs were subtracted.

That pales into insignificance compared to Porsche’s 17 per cent margin, though Audi’s 1,867,738 sales for the year (up 3.6 per cent from 1,803,246) easily shades its Stuttgart stablemate and it still has net liquidity of €17.2 billion.

But times aren’t all rosy at Audi, with Bavarian prosecutors raiding its Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm offices at 7:00am yesterday morning hunting documents related to the Dieselgate felony.

While Audi simply took delivery of the emissions-cheating four-cylinder turbo-diesel engines in its smaller models, its own engineers developed the original software cheat (euphemistically dubbed an “acoustic” mode) and were responsible for developing the cheater V6 turbo-diesels that were also fitted to Volkswagen and Porsche models.

The company was forced to set aside €1.8 billion from its 2016 figures to deal with its V6 TDI cheat, along with its recalls of faulty Takata airbags. That figure has been included in the Volkswagen Group’s admission that Diesegate had so far cost it €22 billion.

“2016 was a very challenging year for our company, but we completed it with robust earnings from our core business and set our course for the future,” said Stadler.

Audi is also dealing with a hit in China. It sold 591,544 cars last year though it lost market leadership there in January, with both BMW and Mercedes-Benz overtaking it. Audi’s January deliveries in China dropped 35 per cent to 35,181 units, passed by Mercedes-Benz (59,000) and BMW (51,000). Its sales fell another 5.8 per cent in China in February and 1.1 percent globally.

It also announced a second joint-venture in China with local car-maker SAIC, which hasn’t pleased existing joint-venture company FAW (a rival to SAIC), nor its dealers.

“We see huge opportunities for the future in China, as the world’s leading market for sales, digitisation and e-mobility,” said Dietmar Voggenreiter, Audi’s sales and marketing board member.

“We are preparing our business model for these opportunities and intend to take far-reaching, sustainable decisions with our partners. In so doing we are taking a challenging, yet important step.

“This phase of far-reaching strategic structural decisions will still take some time. The top priority for us is to further develop the Chinese business profitably for all partners,” says Voggenreiter.

Stadler said Audi had trained 6000 employees to work with high-voltage technology and manufacturing, and had founded the Autonomous Intelligent Driving GmbH subsidiary in Munich to push self-driving technologies for the entire Volkswagen Group.

Its next-generation A8, due this year, will have Level 3 autonomy to take complete control of the car up to 60km/h.

What’s coming from Audi by 2018:
New A8 limousine (2017)
New A1
New Q3
New A7 Sportback
New A6 sedan, avant, allroad
All-new Q8 flagship SUV
All-new e-tron quattro-based SUV

2019:
All-new Q4

What's coming from Audi Sport by 2018:
RS 4 sedan/avant
RS 5 Cabriolet/Sportback
RS 6 sedan/avant
RS 7 Sportback
RS Q5

TBC:
S/RS Q2, S/RS Q3, Q6, SQ8