Audi and Porsche’s EV aspirations finally surface

14 March 2017

In the wake of the Dieselgate emissions scandal, the electric vehicle (EV) strategy of the Volkswagen Group has been widely publicised: the plan is to roll out more than 30 EVs by 2025.  But beyond general comments about the Group’s new dedicated EV platform, MEB, being rolled out to stablemates of the core Volkswagen brand, little else has been announced until now.  

Audi’s all-electric offensive will be spearheaded by a SUV, with a sports car to rival BMW’s i8 and a compact Audi based on VW’s I.D. to follow. CEO Rupert Stadler commented at the Geneva Motor Show that: ′We decided to go the SUV way because, even though the architecture is a little more difficult because you don’t have the perfect aerodynamics, people love to sit in an SUV and we have to respect the growing trend of SUV segments. I think this was two or three years ago absolutely the right decision.’ 

In other news, Porsche has invested approximately €1 billion in its first fully electric car, the Mission E, which is due in 2020. Sales chief Detlev von Platen said at Geneva that ′we have other ideas beyond the Mission E’ adding that an electric version of Porsche’s bestselling Macan ′is of course a model line that we can imagine.’ Beyond pure EVs, von Platen has also hinted that hybrid versions of the iconic 911 as well as the smaller Boxster and Cayman models could also be in the pipeline. These would all follow in the footsteps of the plug-in versions of the Cayenne and Panamera that are already offered by the Stuttgart brand.