Audi has had a long history of designing its own cars from the ground up, despite being under the wing of the Volkswagen Group. But recently, it seems that the Ingolstadt automaker will have to ditch plans to use its own platforms in an effort to save money for VW.
Autocar UK reports that Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, in an interview with German business magazine Der Spiegel, said that a company wide internal message has been communicated to all staff indicating that “all future investments” are “under scrutiny”.
Audi is owned by Volkswagen. Volkswagen had a rough 2015 after being found out that its diesel cars actually produced far more pollutants than is legally allowed but passing regulation tests through software that reverts to a lower power level when the tests are taking place.
As a result, Volkswagen, even now is still tending to its wounds following a massive recall initiative and billions of dollars in fines and lawsuits from groups of owners to entire governments. Following this, VW’s plan has been revealed as distancing themselves as much as possible from emissions-generating vehicles and have the entire brand invested in a comprehensive strike plan to become the world leader in electric vehicles.
Seems that Audi is the prime party who stands to lose at least some of its freedom as a result of this. They are the most valuable property, by revenue and volume, under the VW umbrella, and can be used as a way to save significant cost by streamlining technology and platforms between it and its parent company.
The UK publication also reports that the VW Group supervisory board is due to meet on November 18th to decide on the extent of which this streamlining will be implemented, and for how long. A suspected victim of this is Audi’s independent plans for a new crash test centre and wind tunnel, both of which have already been suspended.
Another casualty could be the abandonment of its homegrown platforms such as the MLB architecture (currently in its second generation) which had underpinned such cars as the latest A4, A6, and A8. The platform for the Audi R8 mid-engine supercar along with its sister vehicle, the Lamborghini Huracan, could also see a stall in development. So too might Audi’s motorsport endeavours.
It had been reported that Volkswagen operations intends to slash group-wide running costs by 10 percent within a one-year period but also wants a 5-8 percent increase in the efficiency of its production and supply chain.
From now on, and at least for the near future, all cars under the Volkswagen Group - Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Skoda, Seat - will likely be more similar than they are currently dissimilar. Whether that will result in a positive or negative outcome for the distinct identity and quality of its individual brands remains to be seen.
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