Supply limitations and decontenting for Audi e-tron S

Audi Australia has admitted that that supplies of the new 2022 Audi e-tron S are likely to be limited for the foreseeable future as its parent company prioritises markets with stricter emissions standards.

What’s more, the German luxury brand has been forced to ‘decontent’ the new $170K electric performance SUV locally in a bid to overcome lengthy shortages on critical components – namely semi-conductors.

Audi concedes it has been forced to strip some standard equipment features from Australian e-tron vehicles as a result of the supply chain crisis.

Press vehicles at the recent Australian e-tron S launch went without technologies including Audi phone box light, electric steering column adjustment and tyre pressure monitoring.

Audi says customers will be refunded the cost of each item at the point of sale.

The sportier, more expensive version of the regular Audi e-tron SUV, which first landed in late 2020, officially touched down in Australia this week armed with a tri-motor electric powertrain and noteworthy performance credentials.

In the 18 months since the original Audi e-tron launched locally, sales are nearing just 190 examples so far – a pin drop when compared with the lofty volumes of the Tesla Model 3 and other popular EVs.

This month, Audi Australia said existing sales volumes were reflective of global demand and Australia’s lax emissions standards, which lag at least a decade behind’s Europe’s, has prompted head office to expediate EVs to other markets.

“We’ve sold almost 190 e-trons since October 2020. As expected at the time, but for possibly different reasons, it’s been fairly supply limited,” said Audi Australia communications manager, Shaun Cleary.

“We know the market here doesn’t have the same policy settings as other parts of the world so models like e-tron SUV, e-tron GT and the electric Q4 have been [prioritised] for other markets around the world because of emissions targets.

“We have been supply-limited so it has performed in line with expectations.”

Audi Australia expects the new e-tron S to command the lion’s share of overall e-tron volumes moving forward, because it is likely to enjoy freer supplies than the garden-variety e-tron.

But Audi Australia anticipates that its allocations for both e-tron models will remain modest in the coming months.

“We hope to see a bit of a lift in numbers depending on supply in the 12 months to come, and we see the e-tron S making up the majority of sales,” said Cleary.

“We hope to see a bit of an increase but it’s going to be quite similar to recent months.”

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