PROFILE: MARKUS DUESMANN

PARACHUTED IN FROM F1, THE NEW BOSS ADMITS AUDI NEEDS TO CATCH UP WITH TESLA’S SOFTWARE GENIUS

Audi’s new CEO isn’t afraid to mention the ‘T’ word. He admits their tech is two years behind Tesla, but he has a plan

WHEN YOU WANT fast thinking and a lack of bureaucracy in the car world, turn to Formula 1. Which is precisely what Audi, desperate to be world leader in the fast-moving world of EVs, has done. Its new CEO, Markus Duesmann, is the former head of engine development at the Mercedes-AMG F1 team. The man Duesmann has hired to head up the new Artemis project, which should take Audi and the whole Volkswagen Group to the sunny uplands of electronic and software expertise, is Alex Hitzinger, former chief development engineer at Cosworth F1, at Red Bull F1 and for Porsche’s successful Le Mans campaign in 2015-17. He also worked for Apple, where he ran its autonomous car project until 2019. Duesmann’s job is to out-Tesla Tesla and bring back Audi’s Vorsprung. He admits they are two years behind Tesla in terms of computing and software architecture. Audi’s first all-electric car, the e-tron SUV, was also behind many other EVs in weight, space, range and overall energy efficiency, including Jaguar’s (older) i-Pace. The new e-tron GT, based closely on the Porsche Taycan, is a step in the right direction. Duesmann has also been tasked with making the Bavarian company more nimble and, in many ways, more like a Silicon Valley tech company than a traditional German car maker. That won’t be easy. “We want Audi, again, to be in the lead in technology,” he says. “We’re very strong in hardware but we need to catch up in software, which is becoming more and more important in vehicle functionality. And we will.” His first day on the job, back in April last year, was a strange one. The production lines were silent. Most of his employees were at home. Over the past year he has run the company mostly by video calls from his home in Munich. As well as chief of Audi – which includes oversight of Lamborghini and Bentley – he has VW Group responsibility for research and development. He is hiring 5000 coders to develop most of the software for upcoming VW Group models, to avoid Volkswagen relying on tech companies for this vital knowledge. Duesmann, 51, began his career at the engineering opposite of EVs: designing V12s for Mercedes-Benz. In 2005, he moved to the Mercedes F1 team at Brixworth in the UK, just after it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the German car giant. He left to join BMW and went on to become its head of purchasing. New VW Group boss Herbert Diess, ex-BMW, persuaded him to move from Munich to Ingolstadt. He still takes an avid interest in Formula 1 and no doubt cheers on his old team, never mind that he now works for one of its keenest market rivals. His other great passion is motorcycles; he owns 23 of them. “My favourite is my Ducati Panigale V4: it’s very light and super powerful and I could talk about it for hours.” When he was on lengthy gardening leave from BMW, before taking over at Audi, he rode around Italy and Croatia. The Artemis project is key to Volkswagen’s electric future. It is a new big D-segment vehicle, due in 2024, to include Bentley and Porsche models as well as Audi. Technically, it will influence all future Volkswagen Group vehicles. According to Audi design boss Marc Lichte, it will also look “completely different”. “Artemis has completely new electronics and functionality, including the ability to do Level 4 autonomous driving,” Duesmann says. “Volkswagen’s new high-volume Trinity EV project, which comes two years later, will also use Artemis technology.” The autonomous driving tech is important. “Eventually machines will drive safer than people. By the middle of this century, all cars will drive autonomously,” he predicts. Just as important as the product “are the tools and development methods needed to ensure we are fast in the future. We’re changing the R&D division to have smaller teams and the product lines will be sorted by the electrical systems rather than divided by size of car. That is the future.” The new e-tron GT is built in Neckarsulm on the same site as the R8 sports car. “We’d be flexible to do a new electric R8, too,” Duesmann reveals. The e-tron “paints a picture of how our future will be. It shows EVs can be fun to drive, beautiful, sporty, and needn’t be high off the ground. Tesla has set new standards and we’re learning from that. But we set the standards with our design, build quality and interior quality.” Duesmann reckons if you combine Audi design and quality with state-of-the-art software, the Vorsprungers should enjoy a competitive advantage over Silicon Valley’s upstarts, as well as other traditional car makers.