Audi's Tesla Pursuit More Aggressive Than We Thought

Audi has been selected by its VW Group parent company to be its technology leader in regards to battery advancements, platform development, and autonomous driving. Other brands will benefit as well, though Audi will get first dibs. This will get underway in 2024 when the production-ready EV from the highly secretiveProject Artemisis revealed. Above all, VW wants Audi togive Tesla a run for its moneyand it isbudgeting billions of dollarsto make that happen. But if Audi is to become Tesla's biggest rival, shouldn't it also become an entirely EV brand?

According to German publication WirtschaftsWoche, that appears to be the case. Just don't expect it to happen in the next few years.

Audi CEO Markus Duesmann stated that he is aligning the luxury brand towards sustainability and is working on a schedule to phase out internal combustion entirely. This transition timeline will supposedly be ready in just a few months and will include specific target dates for the phase-out that will last 10 to 15 years. "Environmental protection and economic success go well together," Duesmann said.

The first mainstream Audi model expected to ditch its combustion engine is the overseas-only A1, which makes sense given the fact it's a supermini intended for city dwellers. Still, adapting an all-EV lineup won't be easy for numerous reasons, among them what to do with facilities devoted to building combustion engines and related parts.