Diesel not our priority: Audi Sport

Audi Sport head, Stephan Winkelmann (pictured), says combining consumer demand for sporty, sustainable cars will test the limits of automotive technology as we know it.

Ever-increasing calls for faster cars means Audi Sport will fast-track its electrified model range – such as the recently announced Q4 – increasing the number of SUV models it offers while at the same time reducing its diesel-powered model mix.

Speaking to motoring.com.au at the global launch of the new RS 3 sedan and upgraded RS 3 Sportback this month, Winkelmann said exceeding customer expectations of performance with available technologies – and at an acceptable price – is an intensifying challenge, and one that would soon spell the end of diesel-powered S, RS and R variants.

“This is our big challenge: How do we combine sportivity with sustainability,” Winkelmann said.

“This combination gives us a lot of headaches because it [the Audi Sport product] has to be a something that is credible, something that is consistent in terms of acceleration, top speed, range, weight, and handling. All of these things have to match [the brand’s core values].”

When asked if the ‘dieselgate’ crisis had impacted the brand’s future plans, the former Lamborghini boss said diesel would become less of a priority for the brand moving forward, despite past success with diesel-powered SUVs like the SQ5 and SQ7.

“There are a lot of countries where diesel is not a central purchase reason, Asia and North Amercia for example. So it’s not useful for us to have only one car and one engine to offer – it lowers the opportunities we could offer,” he said.

“Due to the fact that we need to do more ‘world cars’ and that the budget is limited, diesel would be very much a second priority – it’s not our [Audi Sport] priority.”

Echoing his earlier remarks for a less Euro-centric model mix Winkelmann said Audi Sport faced challenges on many fronts, citing the growing admonition of diesel in international markets, the limitations of current electrification technology at an acceptable price, the packaging of battery technology and ever consumer acceptance as limiting factors.

“We have to explain to our customers the differences between the RS model of today and the electric model they will be able to buy [in the near future],” he admitted.

“It’s a matter of size, and of price, and what body-style we can offer the customer – the more sporty the car looks, the more it has to deliver – and at the moment that’s difficult because we’re at an ‘in between’ stage with technology.”

Winkelmann said that although more hard-core ‘R’ models were a possibility, S and RS models would remain based on series production cars. He said Audi Sport wasn’t keen to follow in the footsteps of dedicated electrified brands like BMW’s i, which he said had a limited future.

“Electrification must come, but if we are to stay credible, it must come under the Audi Sport banner,” he declared. “We won’t have an extra brand, and I think that if you look 15 or 20 years from now some of those other brands will have gone away.

“I think to do it [electrification] in a car that isn’t an SUV, would be short-changing the customer. We would not keep the promise of the brand. We have to find the right segment and the right time.

"It has to be a series car, and it has to do series volume. It can’t be a niche car. We can only lift from what the Group is doing, to scale it for us, and see that it’s worth it.”