More Audi EVs confirmed for Australia

More electric Audi models are on the way and Audi Australia has confirmed all of them will be made available to local drivers.

The brand’s 2025 EV strategy was unveiled this week, when 12 all-electric models were confirmed for introduction across all vehicle segments within the next seven years.

The first electric cab off the rank will be the Audi e-tron SUV, which goes on sale in Australia next year and will be followed shortly thereafter by the Audi e-tron Sportback variant.

The Audi e-tron GT Concept developed in conjunction with Porsche will then be shown at November’s Los Angeles motor show.

And by 2022, Audi says it will begin production on EVs based on the new Premium Performance Electric (PPE) platform co-developed with Porsche.

The PPE architecture was specifically designed for all-electric vehicles and is set to underpin B to D segment vehicles. It is one of four EV platforms being developed across the Volkswagen Group.

A further range of models in traditional Audi body styles including Avant and Sportback will be added to the e-tron portfolio and Audi estimates that by 2025 around 30 per cent of its worldwide sales will be made up of EVs. Key markets for Audi’s electric offerings will be the USA, China and Europe.

Audi Australia managing director Paul Sansom said he was committed to offering local drivers the opportunity to buy all of Audi’s new e-tron models as they become available – but in limited numbers.

“Everything that’s been talked about here, A segment through to D segment, we’re planning to bring all those variants to Australia,” he said.

“The question that’s quite difficult for everyone to answer is in what quantity. We’ll definitely bring all the derivatives for our market, as and when they’re available. The key question is in what quantity?”

Just as the first Audi all-wheel drive model was a derivative sedan named Audi Quattro, so the first all-electric SUV is named simply Audi e-tron.

As more models come on stream, they will adopt a similar naming convention to quattro. An all-electric A4 Avant for instance would be named the Audi A4 Avant Quattro.

As this is a long game for Audi, Sansom says the company is sensitive about the way it introduces the e-tron brand to Australia.

“Quattro was launched as a sub-brand, e-tron’s launching as a sub-brand. If we try and go too far by pricing too aggressively or bringing too much volume too soon, you’ll lose that opportunity to build a brand and that’s what we’re trying to achieve in Australia with e-tron.

“We’re not too worried at the moment at adding too much market share at the moment for Audi. We’re looking at it from a convenience point of view, a consumer point of view and building the sub-brand of e-tron securely.”

Sansom said the 2019 Audi e-tron SUV is expected to be more affordable than originally speculated when it goes on sale next year.

“The gap in terms of price [of EVs relative to traditional combustion-engine vehicles] is closing all the time and we’re hoping by the time we bring the car to the market, there won’t be a notable price difference between it and the Q7 e-tron.”

The plug-in hybrid Audi Q7 e-tron was brought to Australia in limited numbers with a price tag of $140,000. It’s likely that initial Audi e-tron volumes will be relatively small too, given the slow move to EVs in Australia.

“With a car like this you always want to keep supply and demand in tight control, so we’re not going to be overly ambitious while the market is still in its infancy,” said Sansom.

“We’ll feel our way a little bit with some modest volumes in year one, see how the demand builds and then we’ll expand as the demand grows.”

Initial distribution of the Audi e-tron SUV will start in major state capitals with plans to scale the sales operation across Audi’s 40 dealers as consumer interest increases.

Aftersales and service training will be implemented across the network to support Audi’s Australian EV customers and those who travel interstate.