Audi Of America Chief Reveals Aggressive EV Strategy, Auto Show Absence

German automaker Audi plans to spend billions over the next four years to boost an electric vehicle product portfolio that’s already the industry’s biggest with the expectation EVs will outsell its internal combustion engine vehicles before the decade is out.

In addition, just as the Los Angeles Auto Show opens this week, Audi is sitting it out and may never return.

Those were some of the revelations from Audi of America President Daniel Weissland in an interview with Forbes.com.

With eight models, Audi’s e-tron EV line leads the industry. Through the third quarter of this year, U.S. sales of the e-tron line were up 39% at 132,821 units. During Q3 e-tron sales shot up 208% over the three-month period in 2021 moving 49,267 units.

Weissland says the launch of the Q4 e-tron and the Q4 e-tron Sportbacke sparked some of that growth and noted, “The demand for our electric vehicles has never been higher than it is today. I’m convinced in the next five years we have a tipping point in the premium market. We will sell more electric vehicles than ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, I’m pretty convinced about that.”

Audi is putting its money where its confidence in EVs is to bolster the company’s intent to be the global EV leader.

“We are fully committed to an electric future. We are going to invest, big time, I mean 19 billion euros (about $1.97 billion) until 2026,” said Weissland. “We have already the largest product portolio of any automaker in the industry. We have a lot higher demand. The reason why we don’t see it yet is because the supply all over the place is not there to fully cover the demand.”

Meanwhile, Audi is working the angles to make electric vehicles more profitable for dealers and more accessible to consumers who may not otherwise be able to swing a premium brand product.

On the dealer side, it’s all about educating them about what’s in the product pipeline and how to service cars and SUVs that have motors but no engines, all without forcing them to make major investments in upgrades or equipment.

“Our job is to deliver and educate our dealers and we put a lot of training there and also basically consulting in what they would need in their business so their business can grow and be successful,” said Weissland. “I’m not a big fan of pulling a stick and saying you have to do this and that because we have over 300 dealers across the country and the situation is different from dealer to dealer. Most dealers will do it by themselves anyhow.”

Audi is also counting on its dealers to educate consumers on the advantages of driving a battery-powered vehicle along with the environmental contributions of zero-emission powetrains, according to Weissland.

The automaker also recently rebranded its Silvercar by Audi rental program to Audi on Demand. It’s similar to a subscription system, although Weissland prefers to label it “flexible mobility. Consumers can rent vehicles through Audi dealership for various periods of time. Along with the name change, the program added EVs to the offerings.

“By doing this we will enable consumers to test drive those electric vehicles,” said Weissland. The hope is they fall in love with the driving experience and knowledge they’ll never have to stop at a gas station again to convince them to actually purchase one

Weissland says demand has been so strong for vehicles through Audi on Demand the number of participating dealers is increasing weekly.

One place Audi won’t be making any of its vehicles available is at this week’s Los Angeles International Auto show, or perhaps any future auto show.

“I think we need to look for new and progressive platforms where we bring our product and our services to our customers and not wait for an auto show in L.A. or somewhere else,” said Weissland. “I think there are a lot more formats. We have, as Audi, have decided not to participate physically at the auto show in L.A.”

Even without the showcase of auto shows, and despite inflation and the prospect of a recession Weissland is confident about Audi’s future sales across its premium product line observing, “We still see pentup demand in the premium market and we are convinced we are going to grow our sales further in the next few years.”