Audi downsizes luxury electric model lineup in Australia
An Audi spokesperson for the German marque’s Australian division told CarExpert: “After careful consideration and thorough evaluation, we have decided not to introduce the A6 e-tron or S6 e-tron model to the Australian market at this time.”
The spokesperson further elaborated the company’s reasoning, which also reflects what Audi seems to be struggling with in other markets, as the electric luxury cars have not been selling as quickly as hoped: “This decision reflects a strategic alignment with local market demand for upper-large luxury electric passenger vehicles. Despite growth in electric vehicle uptake, the large luxury sedan EV segment remains relatively niche.”
As the spokesperson further pointed out, subsidies seem to dictate what is popular with consumers: “Demand is modest and price sensitivity is strong within electrified segments here, with volume centred around incentivised price points such as the Luxury Car Tax threshold.”
This is probably not the end entirely for Audi’s electric models in Australia, and the company has stated that it will monitor market developments and remains open to “revisiting the possibility of introducing A6 e-tron or a variant thereof in the future.”
Audi Australia’s managing director, Jeff Mannering, said that while other models on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE,) like the Q6 e-tron, made it to Australian showrooms, the large luxury passenger segment remains too niche for most consumers there.
Australia has lately mostly been investing in charging infrastructure, with a major initiative announced in the state of New South Wales earlier this year, for example. Western Australia had also announced a major investment covering subsidies, infrastructure and public transport in the summer of last year. Notably, in the case of NSW, the state had cut its EV subsidies in 2023, in favour of using the funds for charging infrastructure.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency, also known as ARENA, is covering this on a nationwide basis as well. There has been a bit of a tug-of-war regarding the issue of electrification in Australian politics, with the state of Victoria, for example, setting up an additional tax for EVs, which was then later struck down as unconstitutional.
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