WHILE many automotive producers are condensing the variety of fashions and variants inside their line-ups, Audi goals to supply a automobile for everybody – together with a rising array of powertrains throughout mannequin strains.
Along with an growing variety of delicate hybrid (MHEV) choices – in addition to a brand new system Audi phrases ‘delicate hybrid plus’ – there might be a proliferation of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) fashions alongside the battery electrical (BEV) vary.
Because the German premium model gears up for an onslaught of greater than 20 new or up to date fashions Down Below in 2025, Audi Australia product supervisor Matthew Dale informed GoAuto {that a} blended strategy to propulsion is the purpose.
“In the intervening time, we have a balanced strategy, clearly going again to that broader provide that we’ve got throughout ICE (inner combustion engine), we’re going into the mild-hybrid plus, plug-in hybrids,” he mentioned.
“We do have plenty of electrical autos, pure electrical autos, coming too, and that is occurring over the following 12 to 18 months.
“So we’ll have a full breadth of merchandise for our clients, starting from ICE to mild-hybrid to plug-in hybrid to battery-electric all in the identical section – so it’s about providing clients selection.”
Whereas the variety of battery electrical autos (BEV) inside Audi’s product arsenal is ready to develop, hybrid fashions will stay a major piece of the electrification puzzle for Ingolstadt’s native arm.
“Clearly NVES (New Car Effectivity Normal) just isn’t a secret, however shifting ahead we nonetheless wish to have the breadth of our vary and provide clients selection – so PHEVs are a part of that future technique,” Mr Dale mentioned.
“The principle cause for that’s one, they cut back emissions, however in addition they provide a selection for individuals who don’t need the complete step to battery electrical, and desire a half-way level the place they will nonetheless plug it in and go round city on full electrical but additionally have the ability to do longer journeys.”
Audi’s new breed of PHEVs may have bigger battery capacities and, in consequence, an extended electric-only vary because the model goals to maintain up with the 100km+ potential of varied Chinese language PHEVs coming into the Australian market.
“After we’re working in plug-in hybrids just like the Q8 60 TFSI e (PHEV), we’ve upgraded the battery measurement, so we are going to see that pure EV vary develop over time,” Mr Dale mentioned.
“In the intervening time we’re round 50 to 60km pure EV, which is sweet for every day journeys … however the place that strikes is near 100km with bigger batteries.”
When requested if Audi considers incoming Chinese language fashions just like the Tank 500 PHEV – prone to be priced properly beneath $100,000 with an all-electric vary of 110km – to be opponents, Mr Dale steered the producer continues to rival the established luxurious marques it historically has performed in Australia.
“I feel we’re competing with much more opponents now than ever – clearly our conventional opponents being the three Germans – however Australian customers clearly take a look at selection and different manufacturers as properly,” Mr Dale mentioned.
“They don’t essentially cross-shop the three Germans, they cross-shop in a wider automobile parc, so we clearly take a look at what everybody supplies to the Australian client – not simply within the premium segments however clearly the workforce can be wanting on the mass market as properly.
“Know-how is shifting at a fast price, particularly in electrification, and I feel that’s the place we think about any competitor that’s shifting that know-how ahead.”
Talking with GoAuto late final 12 months, Mr Dale defined that Audi’s focus in Australia is on sporty plug-in hybrids – providing the “better of each worlds” by combining eco credentials and S-car efficiency.
“PHEV just isn’t, for us, a pure stepping stone to BEV – it was all the time meant to supply the most effective of each worlds however we actually needed to give attention to efficiency due to our buyer base at that stage,” Mr Dale mentioned on the time.
Audi’s new mild-hybrid plus strikes the same chord, taking its 48-volt delicate hybrid system and beefing it as much as provide extra punch and improved effectivity.
The system incorporates a 48V starter generator and bigger 1.76kWh battery pack but additionally makes use of two electrical motors that present motivation for electric-only take-offs and a torque increase as soon as shifting.
“It’s not like a sequence or parallel hybrid, it’s truly bought two motors … that may present extra torque,” defined Mr Dale.
“Delicate hybrid will nonetheless stick round, nevertheless it’s an evolution of that that can come out in different fashions, and as that then additional evolves, you’ll see increasingly more fashions with that know-how.”
The excellent news for followers of Audi’s performance-focused RS fashions is that the array of hybrid know-how on provide will hold its racier fashions alive in Australia, regardless of looming NVES crackdowns.
“Principally the know-how that we’ve presently bought within the vary, and those which can be to come back, just like the delicate hybrid plus know-how and PHEVs in different segments, it does enable us to proceed to present these RS fashions,” Mr Dale mentioned.
