Clean-car push spurs Audi to build electric SUVs in 2018
500-km range beats Tesla’s Model X
Audi will start building its first purely electric sport utility vehicle in 2018 in Brussels, part of the Volkswagen AG luxury division’s push to move beyond the diesel-emissions scandal by embracing cleaner technologies.
The Belgian plant will make both the car and its battery, positioning it to supply powering systems for other Volkswagen vehicles as well, the company said Wednesday
The move means a shuffle among other Audi production sites, with the A1 city car shifting from Brussels to Martorell, Spain, where Volkswagen’s Seat brand makes vehicles, and the Q3 SUV currently built in Spain moving to Gyoer, Hungary.
The electric SUV is a challenge to Tesla Motors Inc.’s Model X, which went on sale in the U.S. last year. It’ll have a range of more than 500 kilometres on a fully charged battery, which would be slightly farther than Tesla’s SUV.
It’s the first in a set of all-electric efforts from Audi, after Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler promised last year that more purely battery-powered models will be the nameplate’s “answer to the diesel issue.”
The Volkswagen scandal might provide the push needed to accelerate a broader industry trend toward electric cars, Joerg Hofmann, chief of the IG Metall union, said Wednesday at a press conference in Frankfurt. State help will also be needed, he said.
“The German government must finally show its colours” if it wants the country to be a leading market for battery-powered cars, Hofmann added. “This requires tax breaks and direct investments in infrastructure and incentives.”
While Volkswagen has struggled to reach agreement with U.S. regulators on a fix for rigged diesel engines, Audi has proven more resilient than VW’s mass-market nameplate.
VW-brand sales dropped 4.8 per cent in 2015, the marque’s first decline in 11 years, while Audi’s deliveries climbed 3.6 per cent.