Audi’s new boss faces a number of pressing issues to fix the premium brand, after years of missteps left Volkswagen AG’s cash cow with a stale model lineup and behind in the shift to electric cars.
(Bloomberg) — Audi’s new boss faces a number of pressing issues to fix the premium brand, after years of missteps left Volkswagen AG’s cash cow with a stale model lineup and behind in the shift to electric cars.
Gernot Döllner, a 54-year-old VW veteran who wrote his dissertation on speeding up product development, has little time to waste to ensure the timely arrival of key new battery-powered vehicles when he takes over in September. The stakes are high: Tesla Inc. outsold Audi in the first quarter and market share in China is shrinking.
Audi had been closing in on Mercedes-Benz AG and BMW AG when a series of missteps derailed its expansion. A fierce dispute with Chinese dealers six years ago eroded sales in Audi’s and VW’s biggest market. The brand struggled to emerge from the diesel-emissions scandal, with internal wrangling leading to the departure of several engineering chiefs, disrupting vehicle development. More recently, problems building software put off Chinese customers and delayed a key new model.
“For years, Audi’s product portfolio was focused on diesel,” said Matthias Schmidt, an automotive analyst based near Hamburg. “The current models are from a different generation and simply not appropriate anymore for a world that’s transitioning to electric mobility.”
VW Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume, who’s been leading Europe’s biggest carmaker for less than a year, singled out Audi for falling short of its potential when he outlined measures to improve performance across the group. On Thursday, VW announced Döllner would replace Markus Duesmann, 54, at the helm of the brand, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report.
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Döllner earned Blume’s trust by leading Porsche’s product development and overseeing the sports-car brand’s popular Panamera model series. Audi, together with Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, generated roughly a third of the VW group’s operating income last year.
Audi has a few new models coming. It’s planning to release electric versions of the A6 sedan and Q6 sport utility vehicle next year — both based on the new PPE platform co-developed with Porsche.
Duesmann had made initial headway overhauling Audi’s lineup and was planning to introduce around 20 new models by mid-decade, with half of them fully electric. It’s unclear if Döllner will stick to those targets.
He’ll have to defend sales in China, where Audi has been falling behind Chinese nameplates that have been better at adding tech features popular with local buyers. Audi was the Asian country’s top-selling premium-car brand for decades until it clashed with dealers over adding a new joint-venture partner in 2017.
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