Audi Going all-in on the EV Segment Starting in 2018

Audi E-Tron Quattro Concept (Credit: © Audi )

Audi only recently closed up its annual general meeting, and this meeting included a few aggressive projections made by the four-ringed brand’s CEO, Rupert Stadler. Of the revelations, the ones that garnered the most interest were on future technologies and their positioning within Audi’s lineup, specifically electric cars and piloted driving.

Self-driving technology—piloted cars, as Audi calls them—has been on the German brand’s horizon for a few years now. The automaker crafted a piloted TTS to take on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb back in 2010, and at this meeting, it announced that this tech will make its production debut in the new Audi A8 in 2017. While this will not be a full-on self-driving car, it will have the ability to navigate traffic at speeds of up to 37 mph. Audi expects to have fully automated rigs in place by 2025.

The other big revelation was the fact that Audi is diving head-first into the world of EVs. According to Stadler, Audi will launch its first large-series production EV, which happens to be an SUV, in 2018 with a range of more than 310 miles. Even more impressive is the fact that Audi plans to release a new series-production EV every year after the debut of this electrified SUV.

Audi didn’t go into any details about this upcoming electrified SUV, but my instincts say that it’ll be based on the Q7, which already has an e-tron model with up to 35 miles of electric-only range.

We’ll bring you updates as they become available, so keep it locked here.