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Audi CEO announces new electrified car each year starting in 2018

Audi is preparing an aggressive (and possibly desperate) plan to electrify its lineup following the disastrous diesel emissions scandal. CEO Rupert Stadler announced the plan during the company's Annual General Meeting in Ingolstadt. "Starting in 2018, we will launch another electrified car each year," Stadler said. This is easily the most dramatic statement we've heard about electrification since Audi of America President Scott Keogh told Autoblog that one out of every four Audi models will have some kind of plug-in capacity by 2025. This new push for electrics will kick off with Audi's long-awaited all-electric CUV. We've already known about this guy for a while – according to our conversation with Keogh, it will be based on the E-Tron Quattro Concept first shown at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. And earlier this year, Audi even went as far as confirming its Brussels, Belgium factory will screw together the new EV. Speaking of those batteries, Audi expects them to match the 310-mile range promised by the E-Tron Quattro. What we're really eager to see, of course, is what Audi has planned after 2018. Will we get an all-electric A4 to battle the Tesla Model 3? An A7 E-Tron to challenge the Model S? Or will Audi go with a segment Tesla hasn't exploited yet? Expect a few years before we get answers to those questions. Beyond the EV announcement, Stadler also confirmed the next-generation Audi A8 will debut in 2017. The new luxury sedan will be capable of driving itself at speeds up to 37 miles per hour, fitting with previous reports. From there, Stadler expects to "see fully automated driving" by 2025. Related Video:

Audi: 20-25% of our cars will have a plug by 2025

If you like the promise of Audi's E-Tron Quattro concept, you're going to love this post. Speaking at an intimate dinner in Los Angeles the night before the start of the Los Angeles Auto Show, Audi of America president Scott Keogh had nothing but positive things to say about his brand's future plug-in vehicles, including the production version of the E-Tron Quattro. The most interesting was that he said he expects a full 20 to 25 percent of Audi's sales to be electrified by around 2025, and there was lots of detail to back up his vision. "This is the reality as we see it." - Scott Keogh Keogh wasn't making specific predictions, but it's been a long while since we've heard such a high-level Audi executive act like such a troubadour for the electric vehicle future. As long-time readers will remember, we used to hear things like this from Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, but public predictions have taken a bit of a back seat recently. It's promising to hear reasonable optimism again. "When you look at what needs to happen and you look at what we see happening in the marketplace, we're probably looking at a world where 25 percent of Audi's sales, over the next ten years, just to throw out a rough point in the future, are either going to be full electric or have some plug," Keogh said. "This is the reality as we see it." The reason Keogh is so positive is because Audi thinks the E-Tron Quattro concept is going to birth one heck of an EV. Whatever it's called when it arrives – it's unlikely to be the Q6, as some rumors have it. Internally, Audi is calling it the C-BEV, since it is a C-segment Battery Electric Vehicle – the concept previews a luxury all-electric vehicle with a range of over 300 miles. No one is talking about the price yet, but Audi of America's director of product management, Filip Brabec, did say that the sweet spot for the pricing is in the range of how mainstream luxury vehicles are priced today. "If you can put a car in the market that's priced right ... people are going to want to buy it," Keogh said. Read into all of that what you will. It's not just the price that's going to be right. Keogh said that the key point is changing hearts and minds to want electric vehicles. That means tripling down on public infrastructure (see more below) and making sure the car itself is amazing. "Everyone knows, in the history of the world, launch a defining, game-changing product, in whatever category it bloody is, and - boom - the world changes," Keogh said.

Audi bringing TT Clubsport Turbo concept to Worthersee

Is the world ready for an Audi TT with 600 horsepower? Well it had better be, because that's exactly what Ingolstadt has in store for this year's GTI-Treffen at Worthersee, Austria. Billed as a "technology concept," this TT show car packs a 2.5-liter inline-five with two electric turbochargers. Audi is developing electric turbos for its diesel engines, but has found a performance application here in a gasoline engine. The result is a whopping 600 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. Weighing in at 3,078 pounds and with those electric turbos spooling up quick, it's said to reach 62 in 3.6 seconds en route to a top speed of over 192 miles per hour. In a TT. The turbos are powered by a 48-volt electrical system, juiced by a compact lithium-ion battery in the trunk that can store regenerated power. It's also got a coilover suspension and electric jack to get over obstacles like curbs and speed bumps. The whole thing rides on 20-inch alloys with a two-tone finish, with carbon-ceramic discs to keep it all in check, and as you can see, a rather aggressive-looking widebody aero kit. All of which makes for a rather stunning concept, even if its encroachment on the R8 means it will likely never see production. Related Video: Ingolstadt/Reifnitz, 2015-05-08 Tremendous thrust right from the start: the Audi TT clubsport turbo technology concept car - Premiere at Worthersee: show car has 2.5 TFSI and electric biturbo - 441 kW (600 hp) and 650 Nm (479.4 lb-ft), 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 3.6 seconds - Development chief Prof. Dr. Hackenberg: "Technology close to production readiness" Wide add-on parts, a powerful rear wing and a power output of 441 kW (600 hp) – the Audi TT clubsport turbo impresses with its power and design. From May 13 to 16, Audi will be showing its technology concept car on the Worthersee Tour in the Austrian town of Reifnitz. The inspiration for the show car came from the successful Audi 90 IMSA GTO of the late 1980s. A new technology is making its debut under the hood. The car's electric biturbo adds even more dynamism to the driving experience with its spontaneous response. "The electric biturbo signifies a new dimension in driving enjoyment; it boosts sprinting ability and torque and enables high peak power," explains Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi Board Member for Technical Development. "In our TDI engines, we are close to production readiness with this technology.