Audi throws shade at Tesla during e-tron launch

Audi has taken an indirect pot-shot at Tesla during the global launch of its all-new, battery-powered Audi e-tron SUV yesterday.

Speaking at the glossy reveal event, hosted in Tesla’s San Francisco backyard, temporary chief executive officer Bram Schot said: “The e-tron is the first of many to come, delivering on our promise of Vorsprung durch Technik.

“Vorsprung – being ahead – is defined not only by being the first to do something. Vorsprung rather means being the first to do something right.

“We merge the new world of electric mobility together with over 100 years of experience in manufacturing premium cars.”

The words were clearly intended as a thinly-veiled reference to US electric car maker Tesla and its many woes, including issues with its autonomous driving technology and manufacturing, which have been repeatedly referred to by company boss Elon Musk as production hell.

Production of the Audi e-tron is already underway in the former Audi A1 production plant in Brussels, Belgium, which is currently capable of building around 200 vehicles a day. Audi will also manufacture its own electric motors at its powertrain manufacturing facility in Hungary.

More than 100,000 training hours have been undertaken by staff and substantial upgrades including building reinforcements carried out in Brussels to address specific requirements for manufacturing battery powered vehicles.

The temporary Audi boss was somewhat more circumspect when it came to referencing its own company’s recent woes.

Schot took over the caretaker CEO role in June following the arrest and subsequent jailing of former boss Rupert Stadler for his alleged knowledge of the use of so-called emission testing defeat devices in Audi vehicles.

Schot alluded to the company’s dieselgate issues by saying simply that the car-maker was addressing its activity over the past few years.

“We have not forgotten about what happened over the past few years,” he said.

“We have to think backwards from our imagination instead of forwards from the past. Our heritage is not our destiny. It was time for a fundamental change.

“We needed to improve ourselves – to assume responsibility and become better than ever before. The e-tron marks a special moment in time. It marks the beginning of a new era.”