Audi increases spending on electromobility and future technologies up to 2025

Audi has increased budget for its electromobility expenditure up to 2025 in a bid to push ahead its transformation to a provider of networked and sustainable premium mobility. The total amount now comes to approximately € 35 billion despite a difficult business environment.

A sum of € 17 billion, amounting to half of the investment sum, has been reserved for future technologies while approximately € 15 billion - more than 40 percent of the total expenditure – has been earmarked for electric vehicles and the future topic of hybridization. Specifically, some € 10 billion has been devoted to electromobility and € 5 billion to hybridization.

These investments will be sustained by improvements in fixed costs, a leaner product portfolio and savings in non-vehicle investments, contributing to the financial solidity of the brand. "Technological leadership in electric-powered and fully networked driving is the aim of the supervisory board and management board," says Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Audi.

From 2021 to 2025, Audi plans spending on research and development and on investments in fixed assets. The financial scope has been created by synergies in the Volkswagen Group. For example, Audi is developing electric platform together with Porsche while also using the Group's technology of the modular electrification platform. The company plans to expand its electric vehicle portfolio to about 30 models, of which approximately 20 will be all-electric. In digitalization, too, Audi benefits from cooperation in the Group.

As the carmaker plans to sustains costs, it will benefit from the Audi Transformation Plan (ATP) and the Audi.Zukunft basic agreement. The ATP has provided more than € 6.5 billion since it started three years ago and Audi aims to achieve a cumulative sum of some € 15 billion by 2022 through this program. The company says that the Audi.Zukunft agreement lays down foundations of a strong market position for it, secure jobs, and profitable company sites. "Both of these programs secure our financial basis for continuing investment in future technologies," says Arno Antlitz, Member of the Board of Management of Audi for Finance and Legal Affairs.