One of the automaker’s newest battery-powered vehicles is the Audi Q4 Sportback 50 e-tron quattro. Its MEB platform is shared by electric vehicles from the Volkswagen Group, including the VW ID4 and Skoda Enyaq.
Germany According to CEO Markus Duesmann, Audi will expedite its transition to become an electric-only automaker and phase out the production of combustion engines by the early part of the next decade, with the exception of China.
According to a statement released by the carmaker on Tuesday, Audi will exclusively introduce new all-electric cars on the world market beginning in 2026.
According to Duesmann’s statement, “Audi is prepared to make its definitive and strong leap into the electric age.”
Up to 2033, the manufacturer will gradually stop producing internal combustion engines. Audi stated that customers and legislation would ultimately determine when the combustion engine would be phased out.
The statement said, “The firm expects to see ongoing demand in China beyond 2033, which is why there may be a supply of automobiles there using locally produced combustion engines.”
Audi intends to considerably increase the number of fully electric vehicles in its inventory, with the goal of having more than 20 fully electric vehicles available by 2025.
“Audi is already launching more electric cars than models with combustion engines this year,” the statement stated. “These new models include the e-tron GT, RS e-tron GT, Q4 e-tron, and Q4 Sportback e-tron.”
Regarding how its product line may change, Audi did not offer any additional information. Additionally, it omitted mentioning the North American phaseout timeframe for combustion engines.
According to reports in the German media, the Q8, which will debut in 2026 alongside an electric counterpart, the Q8 e-tron, would likely be Audi’s final internal combustion engine vehicle.
The A3 and A4 won’t have replacements with combustion engines; instead, the A3 e-tron and A4 e-tron will take their place. According to the sources, the A5 and A6 models will follow a similar timeline.
Audi stated that it intends to increase the fuel efficiency of current combustion engine automobile generations.
The final internal combustion engine manufactured by Audi will be the best one ever, according to Duesmann. “I do not think that prohibitions are effective. I think that innovation and technology will succeed.”
The Euro 7 tailpipe pollution rules, whose first guideline seemed to make it difficult for the ICE to survive, may have been mentioned in Duesmann’s comment about bans.
He explained via email that premium companies are under more pressure since historically, they have sold vehicles with higher CO2 emissions and because of Tesla’s impending danger. The assertions made by Audi are not surprising given these arguments and the strict future emission limits being implemented in areas like China and Europe.
According to the market, Pacheco predicted that the rate of electrification would vary substantially.
“Offering a fully electric model range in a market where electrification hasn’t yet achieved a significant market share will be the big test to the resolve of each manufacturer towards full electrification,” he said.
Audi has gone further in its transformation to electric-only vehicles than its rival German luxury companies, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which want to go fully electric after a more careful transition.
Mercedes announced in March that it would quicken the transition to electric vehicles, but it gave no information regarding how quickly its automobile lineup will go electric. By 2030, BMW anticipates selling half of its vehicles as fully electrified vehicles.
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Will Audi eventually go electric-only?
Automakers are beginning to take the transition to electrified powertrains seriously. In order to achieve carbon neutrality and comply with stringent emissions laws, many automakers have announced intentions to phase out gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles soon. Audi has joined the club and recently declared that it will also stop using gasoline and diesel engines by the year 2026.
After saying earlier in March that it was finished creating new internal combustion engines, Audi made the most recent announcement. The most recent move by Audi to declare that it will eventually become an all-electric brand looks to be a logical one. It’s also a response to local governments restricting emissions standards and banning the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines.
According to Markus Duesmann, CEO of Audi, the German luxury automaker will switch to producing only electric vehicles by 2026. From that point forward, Audi will only introduce all-electric new cars. There is some good news for consumers who aren’t yet ready to transition to an EV. Up to 2033, the carmaker will keep producing cars with internal combustion engines. However, until 2033, production of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles will be phased out gradually. Therefore, if you want a newer Audi, you need to move quickly.
By 2050, Audi wants to achieve carbon neutrality. The manufacturer will need to make significant modifications in order to achieve that goal. It is a really radical move for a brand to become all-electric. Although Audi doesn’t currently sell a lot of electric cars, that will soon change as the company expects to sell 20 electric models by 2025.
According to Automotive News Europe, the revised Q8, which will be released in 2026, would likely be the final model to use an internal combustion engine. The Q8 e-tron, an electric variant of that car, will also be available.
We weren’t shocked to learn about Audi’s announcement given Volkswagen’s aggressive drive for more electric vehicles across all of its brands. Audi is now selling more EVs than Volkswagen. The e-tron, e-tron Sportback, e-tron GT, RS e-tron GT, Q4 e-tron, and Q4 e-tron Sportback are the options available to customers.
With this statement, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are now well behind Audi. Mercedes has stated that it aims to accelerate the development of its electric vehicles, but it hasn’t given a firm date for when this will happen. BMW has declared that it has no intentions to stop making internal combustion engines, although anticipating that by 2030 all-electric vehicles will account for half of its sales.
When will Audi switch to electric vehicles?
Audi officially announced in March of this year that it was ceasing all development of internal combustion engines in favor of a wholly electric vehicle-focused strategy. The company’s board chairman Markus Duesmann later announced to German media that starting in 2026, all new Audis would be electric. The schedule for the phase-out of internal combustion engines was also reaffirmed today with the announcement that “new Audi models will be all-electric starting in 2026, and combustion engine manufacture will finish in 2033.”
The proposal was unveiled as part of Audi’s new Vorsprung 2030 credo, which outlines the company’s plans to produce automobiles in a more sustainable manner. The focus shifts from the phase-out of combustion to seeking out those incredibly hot automotive buzzwords, or “synergies,” that will aid the brand in shifting its primary source of revenues from combustion car sales to electric.
Audi’s chief strategist Silja Pieh, together with roughly 500 other personnel from innovation and major markets, including China and the United States, worked on Vorsprung 2030.
The good news is that there will soon be more E-trons. However, Vorsprung 2030 also includes efforts to distinguish Audi’s EVs from those of rivals and other VW brands. Currently, the Porsche Taycan’s core technology is used in all E-tron vehicles. In order to create a distinctive Audi feel, Audi plans to consider future aspects such as “steering angle requirements, hand torque, and acoustics.”
It goes without saying that changing a firm will cost money. “We must and will indeed free up the proper financial resources to address a transition such as the one Audi is presently facing,” said Jrgen Rittenburger, member of the board for finance and legal affairs. The only way to guarantee our long-term viability and competitiveness is to do this.
That entails things like ending Formula E’s enjoyment and a corporate hunt for more intelligent methods to conduct business. Or, as it appears we must do now, “synergies.”
If that’s not exciting, perhaps the future emphasis on Audi maintaining its Vorsprung and seeking to offer distinctively Audi driving experiences will be.
How soon until all cars are electric?
According to the oil company, by the year 2040, every new passenger car sold worldwide will be electric, CEO Darren Woods said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber. According to market research firm Canalys, just 9% of all passenger car sales in 2021 were electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids. According to Canalys, that figure is up 109 percent from 2020.
Exxon Mobil is assessing how the drop in gasoline sales would affect its business in light of its modeling, according to Woods. One of the biggest publicly traded international gas businesses and a pioneer in the sector is Exxon Mobil. The company advertises on its website that it is the biggest “refiner and marketer of petroleum products” in addition to a chemicals company.
Chemicals will be essential to maintaining the company’s profitability during the move to renewable energy, according to Woods, who worked for a time in the company’s chemical division. Electric car production can employ the plastics that Exxon Mobil makes.
When asked about the prediction, Woods responded, “Quite simply, that change will not make or destroy this firm or this industry.”
Exxon’s chairman and CEO claims that considerable changes would need to be made before the company could resume operations in Russia.
By 2030, which automaker will only sell electric vehicles?
In addition to developing the limited-edition Evija all-electric sports car, Lotus wants to be a leading EV brand by 2028.
By 2030, Bentley intends to run exclusively on electricity. By 2026, the brand will only offer electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
By 2035, GM promises to only sell electric vehicles. By 2030, Cadillac will set the standard for all-electric vehicles.
After hesitating, Toyota has now made big plans for electric vehicles. One of those plans is for Lexus to go completely electric by 2030 in North America, Europe, and China (and all markets by 2035). And an electric LFA replacement could be coming.
What does Audi’s future hold?
The Q8, which will debut in Brussels in 2026 alongside a fully electric variant, the Q8 e-tron, is reportedly Audi’s final internal combustion engine vehicle. The image shows the current Q8.
Germany According to estimates in German media, Audi will cease developing new internal combustion engine models by the end of 2026 and devote all of its attention to fully electric drivetrains.
According to the reports, which cited corporate sources, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann made the announcement during a management meeting on Thursday at the company’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.
Audi intends to stop making new gasoline, diesel, and hybrid vehicles, although its new models introduced by 2026 will still be produced and sold well into the early 2030s. After that, Audi will only produce electric vehicles.
The A3 and A4 will not be replaced by vehicles powered by combustion engines, but rather by the A3 e-tron and A4 e-tron electric vehicles, according to Automobilwoche. According to German business publication Handelsblatt, Audi’s A5 and A6 models will develop into electric vehicles on a similar schedule.
The Q8, which will debut in 2026 alongside an electric version, the Q8 e-tron, will probably be Audi’s final internal combustion engine vehicle. According to Handelsblatt, which cited unidentified sources within Audi, the internal combustion engine Q8 will thereafter continue to be built until 2032.
When the A6 e-tron fully electric variant arrives on sale in early 2023, Audi has stated that it would be offered alongside the regular A6 versions. A6 e-tron concept vehicle with a 100 kilowatt-hour battery that will enable a range of more than 700 km (435 miles) in production form was unveiled at the Shanghai auto show in April.
It will follow the Q6 e-tron big SUV, which is scheduled to go on sale in the second half of 2022, as the second Audi vehicle to be constructed on the PPE (premium platform electric) architecture created with Porsche.
According to Duesmann, who spoke in March, Audi intends to increase its full-electric lineup to 20 vehicles globally by 2025. By 2030, Audi and Porsche, a sister brand of the Volkswagen Group, intend to sell 7 million vehicles built on the PPE platform.
The e-tron, e-tron Sportback, and e-tron GT are the three current fully electric vehicles from Audi. The MLB Evo platform from Audi serves as the foundation for the e-tron and e-tron Sportback, while the J1 platform from the e-tron GT is shared with the Porsche Taycan.
Mercedes announced in March that it would quicken the transition to electric vehicles, but it gave no information regarding how quickly its automobile lineup will go electric. BMW claims that by 2030, fully electric vehicles will account for 50% of company sales.
As lawmakers in Europe and other important markets enforce stricter emissions regulations to combat climate change and air pollution, several automakers have made concrete plans to switch to all-electric vehicles.
By 2030, Ford stated that it would only sell fully electric passenger vehicles in Europe. Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore announced the brand’s transition to all-electric vehicles starting in 2025. Jaguar is recognized for its high-performance sports cars.
By 2030, according to Volvo, all of its vehicles will be battery-electric. Bentley said in November that it would transition its complete model lineup to all electric vehicles by 2030, doing away with internal combustion engines from all of its automobiles.
Is BMW switching to all-electric vehicles?
BMW hasn’t made the commitment to switch to all-electric vehicles by 2030 like some of its rivals have. However, the German firm is moving in that direction quite quickly. This year sees the debut of the historic i4 sedan and iX crossover. And BMW intends to introduce its first specifically designed EV platform, the so-called “Neue Klasse,” perhaps alongside the new 3 Series, in 2025.
The addition of the electrified Neue Klasse platform to the BMW lineup won’t be a minor one. At some point in the future, it will essentially represent the whole BMW lineup, according to BMW. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse revealed on a quarterly earnings call that the company had abandoned ambitions to make the Neue Klasse compatible with combustion, hybrid, and diesel applications.
When it debuts, it will primarily target the 3-Series market, Zipse said. At that time, the market will have grown to the point where it is reasonable to have just one drivetrain in that design. Later, BMW will extend the platform to include BMW’s smaller and larger vehicles, which should provide more efficient combustion.
The Neue Klasse, according to Zipse, “is (BMW’s) model range for the future.” And he said that BMW was exerting every effort to meet its target of having half of its car sales be electric vehicles by 2030, a goal that at this point seems astonishingly modest.
BMW had been one of the main EV skeptics despite being one of the first manufacturers to enter the EV market with the cutting-edge i3 hatchback. The corporation waited for the market to signal that it was ready for EVs before hedging its bets with hybrid systems. Newly released combustion and electric models of the 7 Series. While competitors like Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche already have dedicated EV platform vehicles on the road, the all-electric Neue Klasse makes its debut in 2025.
A fundamental shift for BMW is its belief that it doesn’t need to rely on internal combustion engines. And it’s simple to understand why they are turning given Tesla’s excellent EV sales numbers and vehicles like the Ford F-15o Lightning in BMW’s price range.