Audi to invest Rs 186,000 crore till 2018 in new models, tech, plants

Ingolstadt, December 27, 2013: Audi is launching an extensive investment program for the next five years. Between 2014 and 2018, a total of around €22 billion (Rs 186,340 crore) will flow into new models, innovations and the continuous expansion of the worldwide production network. Investment in fixed assets will amount to €16 billion (Rs 135,520 crore). In addition to the fixed assets, the new investment program includes €6 billion (Rs 50,820 crore) in capitalised development costs.

Seventy percent of the investment is intended for new models and technologies. The German sites will also benefit from the largest technical development and investment program in company history – more than half of the planned investment will go to the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm sites.

Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management at Audi AG, views the current investment program as an important component of the company’s growth strategy: “We had set the goal of 1.5 million deliveries per year by 2015, but we already achieved that quite comfortably in 2013. We are now decisively steering towards our next milestone of two million deliveries. This is why we are keeping our foot on the gas regarding investments and why we are hiring new employees in 2014.”

“With this investment program, we are launching our next stage of growth,” said Axel Strotbek, member of the Board of Management of Audi AG for Finance and Organization. “In the future, we will be investing increasingly in new products: 70 percent is intended for the modernisation and expansion of the model range and for our portfolio of technologies.”

To achieve its goal of two million deliveries per year, Audi wants to expand its product range from the current 49 models to 60 different models by 2020. In addition to developing new models and alternative drive concepts, the current investment program also provides for the next generation of fuel-efficient engines to meet stricter emissions legislation worldwide.

In addition to the innovative A3 Sportback e-tron and A3 Sportback g-tron, the German carmaker plans to launch the third-generation TT Coupé in 2014. Just a few weeks ago, Audi had announced that it will be producing the new Q1 compact SUV in Ingolstadt starting in 2016. At the same time, it is expanding its production facilities around the world.

Therefore, Audi also intends to hire new employees globally in 2014. In the coming year, 700 young people will begin training in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. Thomas Sigi, Member of the Board of Management of Audi AG for Human Resources, also plans to recruit new employees in different areas of the company in the coming year: “We want to hire the best in the industry to strengthen areas such as lightweight construction, connectivity and electromobility.”

The Audi Group is also expanding overseas. It will build its first Audi factory in North America, in the Mexican city of San José Chiapa, where the Q5 is scheduled to roll off the production line in 2016. Furthermore, the carmaker plans to begin producing again in Brazil, starting in 2015. In São José dos Pinhais, the Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer will produce the new A3 saloon and the Q3. At the Hungarian site in Gyor, the largest engine manufacturing facility in the world, the company is continuing to invest heavily following successful completion of a full vehicle production plant. In Foshan, China, the company’s second plant in the Middle Kingdom is about to begin production. Audi has already delivered more than 460,000 cars to customers in China this year.