Volkswagen plans to introduce a third shift at its MEB plant in Zwickau from mid-April. This will enable around 1,400 vehicles to be built per day from the summer onwards. Currently production capacity stands around 800 electric cars. Volkswagen Saxony is also getting a new CEO.

Audi has a new Chief Development Officer: Oliver Hoffmann, previously Chief Operating Officer of the division, was appointed to the Board of Management by the Supervisory Board with effect from 1 March 2021.

Audi is further expanding its range of plug-in hybrid models. The Q5 TFSI e quattro is getting a new battery, which should increase the electric range. In addition, the Q5 Sportback is also coming in two PHEV variants with immediate effect. The new battery will also be used in the PHEV versions of the A6 […]

VW has reportedly tightened its electrification targets. According to a media report, the share of electric vehicles in 2030 will be significantly higher than previously planned. To achieve this, development tasks will also be redistributed among the group’s brands – this likely also affects Audi’s Artemis project.

Berlin-based limousine service Blacklane, in which Daimler is a major shareholder, has acquired a majority stake in Havn. Havn is a London-based chauffeur service founded in 2019 by Jaguar Land Rover, which operates a fleet of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace in the British capital.

As Audi just launched the new etron GT line, our author and previous Porsche tester Sebastian Schaal finds the top-of-the-line GT more than “just” a Taycan clone. Instead, Audi tweaks the Porsche technology to arrive at a true electric Gran Turismo feel.

Preparations are underway at Audi Hungaria for the production of the new generation of electric motors. The new electric drives for the Group’s fully electric models, which are based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) developed with Porsche, will be supplied from Győr, Hungary.

General Motors hired actor and comedian Will Ferrell for its Super Bowl commercial, in which the company promotes its Ultium platform. Norway as the market leader for electric cars? They don’t want to put up with that in the USA!

The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) has analysed the innovative strength of 32 car manufacturers looking at 291 innovations in the field of electric mobility. Tesla remains by far the top innovator in the technology field but is tracked by VW.

Audi is giving its A4 and A6 models an end date as combustion engines. The same is said to apply to the A8. Even in plug-in hybrids Audi apparently no longer wants to invest heavily. These decisions are likely to be the cornerstones of the exit plan from the internal combustion engine drawn up under […]

Because the expansion of the Ionity fast-charging network is progressing too slowly, the owners are discussing attracting private equity capital for Ionity. According to a media report, financial circles are talking about at least 500 million euros in fresh money.

The Volkswagen Group just missed the EU’s CO2 fleet targets for 2020. The CO2 pool formed with other manufacturers fell short by around 0.5 g/km last year. By contrast, the VW and Audi brands exceeded their CO2 fleet targets, primarily due to the ramp-up of the ID.3 and rising e-tron sales.

The electric car joint venture between Audi and FAW in China, which was officially announced in October 2020, is becoming more concrete: The future company will be 60 per cent owned by Audi AG and Volkswagen Group China and 40 per cent by FAW and will be based in Changchun in north-eastern China.

Together with the company GISA and other partners, Audi has tested grid-serving charging in the German city of Chemnitz. Specifically, the participants created an overload scenario in the local power grid and tested the use of a smartmeter gateway.

German carmakers Porsche, Audi, VW and the BMW Group, have published sales figures for 2020. Although overall sales declined, their sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids still saw a significant increase. In some cases, these now account for a double-digit share of total sales.

According to a media report, the concept for the first Audi model of the Artemis electric showcase project will be presented at the IAA this fall. There is also further information on the start of series production planned for the end of 2024 and possible offshoots in the VW Group.

Audi’s Artemis task force for highly automated electric cars has now been spun off into an independent company. Alexander Hitzinger, managing director of the new Artemis GmbH, made the announcement on LinkedIn.

Audi has announced that it will start series production of the e-tron GT at its Neckarsulm site “in the next few days”. This will be the most powerful electric model built by Audi so far and is to be built at the Böllinger Höfe site in Neckarsulm with a CO2-neutral balance sheet.

In the second week of January, Audi will start advance sales for its next plug-in hybrid models: the Q3 45 TFSI e and the Q3 Sportback 45 TFSI e. The PHEV drive of the two SUV derivatives is known.

Following the Volkswagen Group, the Audi brand has now also decided on its investment planning round for 2021 to 2025. This provides for a total sum of around 35 billion euros, particularly for future vehicle projects.

Audi has reorganised its motorsport activities and announced its participation in the 2022 Dakar Rally. For the rally program with a hybrid race car, the German luxury carmaker and its factory team will withdraw from Formula E at the end of 2021.

Audi and Jaguar are the first manufacturers to have presented their Formula E racing cars for the coming season. For the first time, Season 7 will only be held in 2021 instead of across the calendar due to the Corona pandemic. Audi will be starting with its own powertrain for the first time.

Audi now offers a second onboard charger for the e-tron 55 and the e-tron Sportback 55, which allows doubling the AC charging power from 11 to up to 22 kW. This option will also be available for the e-tron 50 and e-tron S models in mid-2021. There is no retrofit solution.

In the course of its latest investment planning round for 2021 to 2025, Volkswagen intends to invest around 73 billion euros in the future-oriented topics including electrification, hybridisation and digitisation.

Volkswagen reportedly wants to put Bentley under the control of its subsidiary Audi, headed by Markus Duesmann, from mid-2021. An important role in this is to be played by Audi’s flagship electric project Artemis, which could form the basis for a luxury e-SUV for the British brand.

Audi is now also presenting the Q8 with plug-in hybrid drive, making it the seventh PHEV model to be launched since mid-2019. They offer the Q8 as a PHEV with an electric motor in two power levels.

Audi and FAW have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint production of electric vehicles based on the PPE platform, which Audi developed with Porsche. With FAW, the German Volkswagen brand wants to produce several purely electric Audi models for the Chinese market from 2024.

Audi is continuing its electrification plans with the A3 Sportback 40 TFSI e. The compact model is now also available as plug-in hybrid on an MQB basis, as is the case with the sister models from VW, Seat and Škoda.

Audi is planning a new joint venture with FAW in China with a new plant for the production of electric cars based on the PPE platform. The Word is that the negotiations are well advanced and should be completed by the end of the year.

Audi has handed over 19 e-tron electric cars to FC Bayern players. As the club’s official mobility partner, Audi has also already installed charging points for the electric fleet at the Bayern training ground in Munich.