Audi’s CEO has been candid about the German automaker’s performance at the moment, but says a turnaround is imminent.
“I don’t want to beat around the bush, we have to get back on track now,” said Gernot Döllner in translated remarks published by German publication BILD.
“We’ve needed the last two years to clean up.”
An unnamed source from within parent company Volkswagen Group’s board was even more frank, telling BILD that “Audi is our crisis case” and calling its current models “okay – average”.
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ABOVE: Audi TT
Mr Döllner has a laundry list of things he wants to do to help burnish the brand’s image, including more humour in its advertising and more “clarity” in its design.
Audi is also looking ahead to an “identity builder” that’ll be revealed shortly before this year’s Munich motor show in September.
It’ll be an electric vehicle (EV) but also “a highly emotional sports car – not a TT, not an R8, but something in between”.
Mr Döllner even said, “I have a gut feeling that we are on the verge of such a TT moment,” referring to the impact of the original TT which entered production in 1998.
ABOVE: First-generation Audi TT
That suggests not only the introduction of a distinctively styled and sporty vehicle, but also one that could set the design direction for the brand moving forward.
September’s reveal won’t be a mere concept car either, with the Audi boss confirming it will enter production. It’ll fill a gaping void in Audi’s lineup too, as the TT and R8 have exited production and the brand no longer builds any coupes or convertibles.
But a new sports car alone won’t fix things at Audi.
The company, like others within the VW Group, has had to contend with software delays and issues out of the recently reorganised Cariad division.
ABOVE: Audi SQ7
As with brands like Porsche, it’s also undertaking large-scale cost-cutting efforts. This includes removing a level of management, slashing the number of committees from 130 to 35, and warning more job cuts will come between now and 2029.
As Mr Döllner told the publication: “Audi must become a different company.”
Like other luxury brands from Europe, it has had to contend with a changing climate in both China and the US.
In the former, increasingly sophisticated domestic offerings have been luring buyers away from foreign brands, while in the latter tariff uncertainty has upended product plans.
ABOVE: Audi E5 Sportback
This weekend’s announcement of a 15 per cent tariff imposed by the US government on European imports, including cars, does at last provide some clarity.
Audi isn’t retreating from either market. It’s weighing a US plant, like that which BMW and Mercedes-Benz have, but Mr Döllner says it must be profitable. It currently builds vehicles in Mexico for markets like the US, where these are now impacted by tariffs.
It’s also rolling out a separate brand in China, confusingly called AUDI, which will offer models tailor-made for that market developed in partnership with MG parent company SAIC Motor. This includes the already revealed E5 Sportback.
China is by far Audi’s largest market, with 649,900 vehicles delivered there in 2024 – 92 per cent of those produced locally. That’s more than twice as many vehicles as it delivered in its next largest markets of Germany (198,342) and the US (196,576).
Audi recently delayed its transition to being an EV-only brand, with cooling demand for luxury EVs in major markets forcing the move as it has with many other brands.
The brand had previously confirmed it would be EV-only outside of China by 2033, but now the goal has been shifted to 2035.
After Audi’s global deliveries rose 17.4 per cent in 2023 to 1,895,240, they slumped 11.8 per cent in 2024 to 1,671,218. Its EVs also took a 7.8 per cent hit, falling to 164,480 deliveries.
ABOVE, clockwise from top left: New-generation A6, Q5, Q3, and A6 e-tron
Sales in Europe fell 11.1 per cent, in China by 10.9 per cent, and the US by 14 per cent. In Australia, they fell by 19.5 per cent to 15,333.
But Audi has been busily overhauling much of its product portfolio. A new Q3 small SUV enters production this year, following the launch of new-generation A5, Q5 and A6 models, plus new EVs in the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron.
With a much fresher portfolio, Audi will enter 2026 on a more solid footing. Mr Döllner believes as much, telling BILD: “I think we’re passing the low point.”
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