Audi chief: Electric car in 5 - 10 years
We recently told you that Audi has no electric car plans for the immediate future. We were right. Those plans seem to be some years away according to the CEO of Audi, Rupert Stadler. In an interview published yesterday by Welt am Sonntag, Stadler stated that diesel would hold the interest of the market for the next 5-10 years, but in that time electrics would become more generally accepted and Audi would then offer emission-free cars. Reminded that Mercedes and BMW already have high performance lithium ion batteries, the Audi boss was asked if he wasn't worried about lagging behind. Stadler seemed to shrug off the suggestion saying he wasn't concerned because their research capacity was larger than many of his competitors.
Earlier in the interview, at the end of a discussion about the merits of diesels versus hybrids, the CEO had this to say about hybrids, "Außerdem sehen wir den Hybrid langfristig lediglich als Durchgangsstation zum vollelektrischen Fahren." Which, according to the Babelfish (slightly cleaned up), translates as "In addition, we see the hybrid on a long-term basis only as stepping stone to all-electric driving." The bottom line here seems to be: more diesels for the immediate future with electric vehicles coming into play a few years down the road, by which time the 2006 R-Zero electric concept design (pictured above) will seem quaint.
[Source: Welt an Sonntag]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 10:45AM (5/05/2008)
Terrific,
Remind me NOT to buy any Audi products any time soon. As a current VW TDI driver, I'm not thrilled with the EV offerings of VW either. Guess I'll go elsewhere.
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Dan 11:12AM (5/05/2008)
Ve have saying ghere in Ingolstadt. If does not burn or blow things up, zhen is not built by us!!!
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Throwback 11:24AM (5/05/2008)
5-10 years is a big span. If it is 5 years this is a sound strategy, after all diesels are huge sellers for them. We would be talking 2013 for an all electric car. If it's 10 years, they will be way behind their competitors.
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Mark 12:18PM (5/05/2008)
wow, 5-10 years when other companies (ZENN, GM, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Tesla, Th!nk, etc) have all said they will have electric cars out beginning next year, and 2010 for the Volt..
Audi is going to be way behind..
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armmat 12:41PM (5/05/2008)
Thanks but no thanks...Audi can keep its overdesigned, overweight, pieces of furniture for the road for those pretentious, latte drinking pricks.
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rgseidl 1:37PM (5/05/2008)
Audi's primary market is Europe, where diesels do not yet require expensive NOx aftertreatment systems. In that market, it makes sense to wait for the battery technologies to shake out before building an E-REV or BEV model. Also note that lead times for brand-new conventional models are on the order of 7 years in the auto industry, so 10 for something that uses a completely different drive train is not unreasonable.
However, Audi's philosophy will be a difficult sell in the US - currently very much a minor market for the company. With air quality still considered more important than fuel economy there, Detroit is all about going from gasoline to cellulosic ethanol and/or electric drive.
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Neil 12:47AM (5/06/2008)
This kind of short-sighted inflexibility of thought is not a good sign for Audi's employees. Dinosaur thinking is the first step on the road to extinction.
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eddy 4:00PM (5/05/2008)
Volkswagen wants to offer their first electric car in 2010 (with cheap Skoda and Seat versions of the same drivetrain). That car will be the electric Lupo (Volkswagen up concept). The only problem for Audi is that their electric car must be something alike the tesla roadster to fit to the Audi brand.
So 5 to 10 years seems very realistic.
@armmat
2.0 TDI is still more efficient than anything America has to offer.
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armmat 5:10PM (5/05/2008)
Eddy:
Who cares what America has to offer...there are more efficient cars than a 2.0TDI already on sale here...so why would I buy an overpriced luxo-barge?
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Sasha S. 5:23PM (5/05/2008)
Message to Audi shareholders: sell Audi - buy Tesla
Message to Audi owners: see previous line
Message to CEO of Audi, Rupert Stadler: Get a more fitting job like baking strudels or serving beer.
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raju 7:00AM (5/06/2008)
It is nice to know that the car makers are concerned about our environment and thinking of making eco-friendly cars. I too read about Audi working out on electric car and hope they have India in their list too. http://blog.carazoo.com/2008/05/audi-want-electric-car.html
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HHN 10:58AM (5/13/2008)
Electric cars eco friendly??
By the time we add 150 nuclear power plants to charge them,dig up half the globe to find all the rare metals for the batteries,we once again arrived at the point,where we are no further ahead than we were 50 years ago.
The answer is:Humanity,quit breeding like rabbits.
A 90% reduction of "useless eaters",the human pest, is needed,not electric cars !
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