The outgoing head of Audi, Rahil Ansari said that the way forward is to focus on the right combination of EVs and PHEVs, while launching petrol-only models in India
Audi, one of the three big German luxury car manufacturers, is working to move away from the diesel engine cars as the future is shifting towards petrol, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in India.
As per a report, Rahil Ansari, outgoing India head of Audi said that the diesel cars will suffer bug time after the BS-VI emission norms come into the act from 1st April, 2020 and Audi will have to move away from diesel cars to keep the momentum going.
Ansari also said that the company has seen the shift from diesel cars to petrol cars in India and the percentage of petrol cars has increased from 10 percent earlier to now 35-40 percent and by next year, more petrol cars will be sold than the diesel cars, a first in Audi India’s history.
Audi is facing the heat of the slowdown in the Indian automobile industry and they are expecting the sales to remain muted even next year and pick up only in 2021, stabilising after BS-VI implementation. Audi sold 6,463 units last year in India and expects sales to be flat this year.
However, the company is gearing up for the launch of a number of new cars including its fully electric SUV e-Tron by early next year and will only bring petrol engine powered A6, A8 and Q8, all of which are scheduled to launch this year, starting with the new A6 sedan in September this year, followed by A8 and Q8 in December.
Rahil Ansari said that the combination of EV and PHEV is the right step ahead – “For India we want to launch the e-tron latest by 2020 beginning…We do believe that not only e-tron but even plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and petrol will define the path for Audi in India.”
A few days back Audi launched its digitisation service, which Ansari says will serve its customers better. India is the first market in the world to get the augmented reality by Audi which is said to elevate the buying experience by providing a realistic experience of a configured car.