Audi Plans to Launch 3 Electric Vehicles By 2020

In fact its rival Mercedes-Benz too has a similar plan as it plans to add four electric cars, two sedans and two SUVs, to its line-up by the end of this decade. Trust us when we say that Audi will not be far behind as the company is putting a strategy in place where we'll see it launch at least three electric vehicles by 2020.

The company's CEO Rupert Stadler told a German media firm that EVs will account for 25 to 30 per cent of its sales by 2025. According to Stadler, the company also plans to invest in digital services and autonomous driving technologies, and Audi will set up a new subsidiary that will work on self-driving vehicles. It will be called SDS Company and might work cooperatively with other companies from the business.

Beside electric cars, the folks at Audi will also focus on making autonomous cars. Stadler said, "This is about a robot car that may not even need a steering wheel or pedals, so it's ideal for urban traffic," Considering that the focus will be on EVs and other aspects, Audi will need to simplify the areas of business and this is where the cut backs will be seen. It's been on the cards for some time and the axe may fall on the two-door A3 to begin with. "We have discussed what would happen if we dropped the two-door version of the A3," he commented. "I think we would barely lose any customers. We'd rather invest the money that is freed up in new models and other derivatives."

Talking about fuel cell cars, Stadler said that it was a question of technology, which Audi is quite good at and we've seen examples like the h-tron already. For the CEO though, the question is more about infrastructure, than broadening the technology itself. We can't wait to see what Audi's roadmap for electric cars look like but we sure hope there is a ballistic one like the R8 e-tron up for grabs.