If you’re an internal combustion engine, you’re living on borrowed time.
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann has confirmed the brand will not develop new internal combustion engines. With vehicle development cycles typically lasting between 4 and 6 years, automakers will continually be under pressure to make the switch to electric, given a return on investment will be increasingly harder, as stricter emission standards (particularly in Europe) are being introduced.
“We will no longer develop a new combustion engine, but will adapt our existing combustion engines to new emission guidelines. The plans for the Euro 7 standard are technically a huge challenge with at the same time little benefit for the environment. This places extreme restrictions on the internal combustion engine.”
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann
Audi is owned by parent Volkswagen who yesterday made big announcements this week in relation to their future products across the VW Group, leaning into electric vehicles. While we don’t have a date for when Audi will make their final ICE product, clearly they will attempt to extract as much value as possible form existing investments, will funding the development of EVs.
This decision to kill ICE development from Audi, follows a similar announcement from Diamler last week. It seems the legacy automakers are finally realising that electric vehicles offer a better platform for future vehicles and regardless of their motivations, they are having to say goodbye to the old cashcow.
So far Audi only has a couple of electric vehicles in the marketplace, the Audi E-Tron SUV,
More information at Electrive.com via faz.net (paywall), zeit.de, manager-magazin.de (all in German).
