Audi CEO Plots Broader E-Car Rollout as Overhaul Takes Shape

(Bloomberg) -- Audi AG expects deeper cooperation with sister brands VW and Porsche to start to help lifting returns within 18 months to 2 years, its chief executive officer said, as Volkswagen AG’s premium-car unit trims costs, increases efficiencies and renews its focus on China.

• “We can get better synergies out of the group,” Audi CEO Abraham Schot said in a Bloomberg TV interview ahead of the Geneva auto show.

Key Insights

• Within 24 months, Audi will offer 5 fully-electric and 7 plug-in hybrid cars. The CEO also wants to restore the brand’s technological cachet by switching an existing model line to battery power. He declined to share details to “surprise competitors.”
• Since stepping in after the arrest of his predecessor, Rupert Stadler, Schot has widened an efficiency push at VW group’s largest profit contributor. He aims to save 15 billion euros ($17 billion) by 2022, while orchestrating a broader shakeup to keep Audi from falling further behind luxury rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG.
• Audi plans to ax about one-third of its engine variants, weed out bloated management ranks and avoid expensive night shifts at its main German plant in Ingolstadt.
• Schot sees potential for market-share gains in China amid a broader slowdown that might drag on. He views higher U.S. tariffs as potential challenge, not a threat, and says “we’ll manage.”

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