Audi Presents Future Production Plan, to Sell only EVs by 2026, No More ICE by 2033

The impending automobile electrification has prompted gasoline car manufacturers to make their stance as early as possible in order to avoid being missed out. While Far East automakers like Toyota and Honda opted to go partial EV while exploring other carbon-neutral alternatives, many European automakers such as Volkswagen, have cemented their intent in becoming a full-fledged EV manufacturer in future’s time.

The latest of such is Audi, as the firm is all in on electromobility by announcing future production plans. This decade-long plan will see the Four Rings marque launching only EV models for their global market, starting from 2026, while all of its production plants worldwide will be ramping up EVs by 2029.

These two phases are geared towards achieving the marque’s ultimate goal of phasing out the production of its combustion models by 2033.

The execution of this future plan will see Audi investing in their existing plants to prepare it ready for EV productions, instead of building new standalone, EV-specific manufacturing plants. A sum of €500 million (RM2.35 billion) will be invested by Audi to train its employees worldwide in EV production. This, in all, will fulfil the automaker’s plan to make all of its production plants capable of manufacturing EVs by the end of this decade.

As for now, both of Audi’s Bollinger Hoffe and Brussels plants have started to produce EVs, whilst its Ingolstadt HQ plant will start to manufacture the Audi Q6 e-tron in 2023, followed by the rest of its manufacturing plants like Gyor, Hungary and San Jose Chiapa, Mexico. Plus, Audi is currently building a brand-new plant together with Chinese state-owned automaker FAW in Changchun, China to cater for PPE-based EV productions.

Such plan is in-line with Volkswagen Group’s plan of developing a new MEB+ platform that is poised for usage by 2026. Being part of the VW Group, new Audi EV models coming later this decade will likely underpin this newly-developed platform that offers exceptional range, as well as improved modularity so that a wider range of cars can utilise it.

To date, both the Audi Q4 and Q5 e-tron are using the current MEB platform, also developed by VW Group.

Aside from that, Audi has also set a plan to reduce annual factory costs in half by 2033. To achieve this rather ambitious plan, the VW Group-owned marque will reduce the manufacturing complexity by producing more EVs and less ICE-powered models, thus resulting in a more streamlined production process. For instance, the Audi Q6 e-tron will be assembled on the same assembly line as the A4 and A5 sedans.

In the long run, this plan will see Audi gradually phasing out its combustion models production, and ultimately, they will no longer produce any ICE models by 2033 – a decade from now. In other words, 2033 is your last chance to get a proper ICE-powered Audi RS model, before they succumb to electrification for good.

For the Malaysian context, how this will pan out for the brand locally remains to be seen given that official importers and distributors PHS Auto Malaysia (PHSAM) has yet to offer a full EV offering to date, unlike how rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW have. Nevertheless, there is some good news to convey.

Caricarz.com has learnt from credible sources indicating that PHSAM is poised to introduce at least one Audi e-tron EV model in Malaysia in 2023. Though, much can’t be said on which exact model (or models) will be launched, it will certainly be either the Audi e-tron GT, or the recently-facelifted Audi Q8 e-tron.

Considering the local EV market’s stronger preference for SUVs like BMW iX and Volvo C40 Recharge, PHSAM perhaps will get a slice of that cake should it choose to bring the Q8 e-tron first, but don’t take our word on that just yet.