At Audi’s Annual Media Conference, CEO Gernot Döllner and CFO Jürgen Rittersberger presented and assessed the financial result for the 2023 fiscal year. They also offered a glimpse of the numerous models to be launched over the next two years and provided information on the company’s strategic focus. Their key statements at a glance:
Gernot Döllner:
▪ “The Audi Q6 e-tron, which celebrated its world premiere this week, marks the first time electric mobility is coming from Ingolstadt.”
▪ “The Audi Q6 e-tron1 is the start of an extensive product initiative that we will use to rejuvenate our portfolio over the coming years. We are planning more than 20 new models in 2024 and 2025, including the presentation of the Audi A6 e-tron in the summer of 2024 and the new generation of the Audi A5 and Q5 as the first models on the new Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) in the second half of the year.”
▪ “Despite the recent public debate, there is no doubt the future of the car is electric. At Audi, we will electrify all core segments by 2027 and have defined a fully electric target portfolio. In addition, the transitional period will require starting off with highly efficient combustion-engine models and plug-in hybrids. With the models that are coming now, we are well positioned and able to actively respond to a range of customer requirements.”
▪ “The 50 percent increase in electric vehicles delivered in 2023 confirms our path toward electric mobility.”
▪ “We are experiencing rapid transformation in the automotive industry. Technological revolutions, new competitors, and a difficult global economy are challenging all established car manufacturers.”
▪ “We can shape the transformation from a position of strength. But in this complex environment, focus and speed are critical.”
▪ “The Audi Agenda focuses on three key areas in product, technology, and brand positioning, as well as on a plan for the crucial markets of China and North America.”
▪ “We are currently launching the largest model initiative in the history of Audi, while at the same time continuing the fundamental transformation of the company.”
Jürgen Rittersberger:
▪ “In 2023, the Brand Group Progressive delivered more than 1.9 million vehicles of the Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini brands. This means we saw strong growth in all our core markets and showed better growth than the overall market.”
▪ “Our operating result and operating margin show that we did well in 2023. Solid finances create the framework for the coming years, during which we will continue to advance our transformation.”
▪ “The year 2024 will be a challenging year of transition for us. But we will strive to achieve a solid financial performance despite this.”
▪ “The Performance Program 14 allows us to engineer our financial success. It is challenging to do so, but we have a clear plan, strong brands, attractive products, and a great team.”
▪ “Audi has the financial strength to succeed even in times of technological change and more intense competition.”
Do the 2024 Audi annual media Conference Good morning and welcome to the annual media conference 2024 of Audi AG live here in this Hall and of course in our live stream now after number of years where it was fully virtual only it’s very nice to have this hybrid event today live and as a live
Stream from the heart of Audi AG live from the shop floor in inot and that’s for a good reason it was only last night that we celebrated the media World premiere of the new Audi q6 Eon here the first all electric model from our headquarters here in
Inol and today I’m delighted to welcome you to this very place for our annual media conference and with me in the studio we have our CEO Gard dner welcome G hello Durk and hello and welcome to all of you here on sites in englad and everybody who’s joining us via webcast thank
You well ladies and gentlemen what can you expect in the coming hour we will start with a conversation with Gard derer to explain how compan is holding its own in a challenging Market environment we will be focus on the important strategic topics and of course we will also talk about what the future
Will hold for Audi this year following that our CFO Jurgen ritterburg will present the key financial figures for 2023 the earnings and also of course provide an Outlook at the end as usual GNA dner and J rburg will be happy to take any questions you have and what’s important to know is
That you can submit your questions immediately that is during the presentation program using the question field on our micro site to make sure that we have a Level Playing Field we’d ask you to submit your questions online even if you’re attending live in our studio simply using the QR code that you
See on the table and of course our team is available in the room as well to help you with any issues as I at a Level Playing Field especially when there’s a question that is a bit longer or involves several points with that let’s go garard first
Question you’ve been CEO of Audi AG since the first of September let’s start with a short recap how was your start at Audia and what have you tackled since then well I had an excellent start here in inad and the team received me very well and together with my team on the board
Of management I visited many markets I went to all of the core regions we asked lots of questions and with this highly motivated team which we which I found here right from the start we worked hard we set priorities and we can already look back at the initial
Joint successes a good example of team play is the dam 2024 Victory with two Dimensions it’s excellent that we won there and it’s the first time that a car with an electric drivet drain and hybrid power supply energy Supply that such a car won the hardest rally in the world and with this
It continues a long Motorsports tradition just think of the hybrid at Lon and this demonstrates that Audi really stands for for technique leadership through technology and secondly teamwork in the development phase of the car and also teamwork during the actual race and that’s something that I highly appreciate and I
Found this among the team and then last night that was another highlight the world premum of our q6 Atron and some of you actually were here yesterday on site in englad well I myself at a very early concept stage in a different role I was I had the pleasure of cooperating on the
Development of this car it’s a very important model in terms of the Audi strategy now with this car for the very first time Electric Mobility now comes from inad we are manufacturing the car here in a line in this building and the battery is assembled here in englad and it’s the
First car on the PPE the premium platform electric that we develop together with poche Audi and poche now this car sets new standards in terms of efficiency in terms of range and above all as far as charging speed is concerned and I believe that’s one of
The core features for an EV for an electric vehicle so a lot of work has been put into this launch a lot of work by the team and it’s going to be the first come of a long series of models and we will start with two electric cars
And then later on there is going to be a complete complete renewal of our family of ice cars with internal combustion engines now when we look at 23 we can see that we have robust key figures and that’s a good starting point for 24 all in all in
23 we saw demand for passenger cars which was noticeably above the previous year’s level the level in 22 and in 23 approximately 1.9 million cars were delivered and that is an excellent level of deliveries and in all regions in the world there were increases and jgen V bger will give you
More details on this in a moment a nice figure for me plus 50% 50% increase for EVS for electric vehicles and this definitely confirms our course that we have chosen towards Electric Mobility so 2023 has been a very successful year and if you take a look at the year 24 now I
Believe or We Believe that it’s going to be a year of transition well that is how we announced it in our press release it’s a year of transition that sounds a little like uh the difficult economic conditions I refer to what challenges do you see for Audi and for the industry as a
Whole right currently we are experiencing a rapid turnaround in the automotive industry towards battery electric vehicles and also in terms of software defin vehicles and in addition to this globally across the board there are difficult global economic conditions they are becoming more and more challenging all the time
We have technological upheaval in fact and I mentioned this before we have new competitors that are now challenging us as the established car manufacturers but we are facing up to this and the external factors that we have to cope with um the what I already mentioned the increasingly intense competition from
New players in China and also North America when we look at our suppliers they are increasingly subject to pressure and we can see higher costs higher Factor costs for raw materials and commodities or materials in general and at the same time there’s weakened economic growth but jur and riches bger
Will tell you the background in or the details later on and in addition to the external Factor we Audi are also facing internal factors there will be numerous model launches coming up we all already reported about them yesterday and we talked about them today and there are
Three core product lines which we are renewing and some are launched some are phased out and that of course has an influence on our sales figures and for some models and components we still see a difficult a tight Supply situation for some parts so overall particularly with
Our starting point the good level in 23 we think we are well positioned for this year for this year of transition and we can definitely well face this um change from a position of strength we can help change help shape change but we are also fully aware that in this complex
Environment we have to be focused and secondly speed is important we have to pick up speed and this uh transition has to be shaped with high speed Canard you mention a number of the challenges raw material costs our Sops Etc so what’s the Strategic course and decision that
You’ve been able to take as a management to meet these challenges as I just mentioned now on the one hand our company is currently managing the biggest model initiative in a history that we’ve been waiting for for a long time and that of course is
What we plan for but at the same time we are continuing to drive forward a fundamental transformation in the history of Audi so we have to act ambidextrously we have to look at the shortterm and long-term Horizon and keep them or be aware of them both at the
Same time and that’s why the management board team has conducted an intensive review over the past few months and we have set up an agenda and and this agenda addresses the important fields of action for our company and it also creates Clarity for all stakeholders so that we
All know what we as a company should be focusing on what the key focal areas are for us and it’s a very balanced mix of a transformation program and a strategy program and this clearly determines our focus our our focus is on four key areas first of all
Products and technology for one thing and then on the other hand it’s the brand the brand model and also plan for the important regions China in North America the Audi agenda contains everything that we need to take Audi forward again when it comes to the Audi agenda where yesterday there were some
Questions on this so let me ask them right now and let’s be specific what have you been working on which Milestone spe specifically during the last few months well I think a key point and actually a first result is what we see here on the right hand side on the stage
We have set up a reliable road map for our model initiative last Autumn we Revis product launches for the coming years and we thought about what we can do we what we are able to deliver also with our commitment to high quality because we are not going to accept any
Compromises in Quality quality is our number one priority and this is why we readjusted the launches these are staggered launches now so that it’s possible to live all of this and we can do this now step by step and secondly another thing that we did we as far as our model portfolio is
Concerned we revised it and we also revised our vision our Target picture we have a clear Target portfolio for Audi all electric and all electric Target portfolio and step by step we are working to achieve this now and and we already started with this on the q6 we removed complexity from our
Offering we reduced derivatives to a certain extent but uh we also make sure that certain numbers have now been bundled and that we have set up packages which which are understandable and which are customer oriented and we also have a future proof segment coverage that we
Ensure for the next few years and in the next few years in every segment we will have electric vehicles and in addition to complexity on the product side we also work to improve our organizational complexity and we reduced the level of complexity things that used to slow us
Down as far as the number of committees is concerned and we streamline this and we have a new Matrix structure which we defined a matrix structure which in terms of the product make sure they you now focus on entrepreneurship and the product lines are strengthened as a company within the
Company and we are now focusing more on the line areas in technical development for instance that uh need to focus more on Innovation and technology so all in all this means that cars and Innovations thanks to the streamlined and lanar structures can be um can go to the road faster and more customer
Oriented thank you gut we will definitely talk more later on about the upcoming product launches this year but let’s now turn to last year’s Financial results the 2023 Financial results Financial significant growth in all key markets in particular electric vehicle deliveries increased significantly plus 51% worldwide
Worldwide a plus of 55% in the US market in the US market in total the brand group Progressive delivered about 1.9 million units that’s a plus of 17% to 1% the revenue Rose to 69.9 billion I9 that’s plus 13% plus% the operating margin is 9% % the net cash flow reaches 4.7 billion
Euroes 4. we are responding to the continuing challenging Market environment with a clear road map for 2024 and Beyond beond right and now our CFO Jurgen ritberger has joined us he is responsible for financial legal and it great to have you here thank you and happy to be here and welcome to the
Heart of our enggal start a shop floor great venue now we saw some of the figures already the profit and marging can you give us a deep dive into the markets and regions yes of course happy to do this brand group Progressive delivered more than 1.9 million Audi Bentley and Lamborghini cars worldwide
In 2023 this means growth of around 177% with that we were able to grow significantly in all core regions and faster than the market as a whole in Europe there were deliveries of 755,000 units exceeding the the previous years number by 19% approximately we achieved clear double
Digit growth rates in each of the five major European passenger car markets that’s Germany the UK Italy France and Spain as for China our most important single Market 733,000 Vehicles were delivered that’s Plus 133% and in the US our deliveries increased year on year by 21% to around 235,000
Units we have also gathered speed in terms of electrification with 178,000 all electric Audi models 51% more cars were delivered worldwide than in the previous year to summarize this is a strong sales performance all the more so given the currently challenging conditions that we’re facing where Gard gave you some
Indications could it tell us a bit more about those challenging General conditions well happy to do so as we all know there are more and more geopolitical crisis around the world in addition to the war on Ukraine the Middle East crisis came into Focus From the Autumn onwards and at the same time
Global economic growth slowed not noticeably in 2023 especially in Europe and in Germany where the economy is weak the most important important overall car markets were significantly higher in 2023 than in the previous year but 2022 was strongly affected by the semiconductor crisis the Improvement in Supply is accompanied by increasingly F
Competition however especially in the Bev segment at Audi we have taken decisive action in this challenging environment among other things with our performance program 14 in this program we combine all measures to achieve a long-term return of 14% but more on that later the bottom line is that I can
Today announce a robust financial performance for the 2023 fiscal year at 69.9 billion euros our sales revenue exceeded the previous year’s figure by 133% this is primarily due to higher vehicle sales thanks to strong demand and a more stable Supply situation within our model range the all electric Audi Q4 rron recorded the
Strongest sales growth by far overall the share of revenue from the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles according to the EU taxonomy climbed to approximately 16.3% our operating income reached 6.3 billion EUR following 7.6 billion Euros in the previous year and as a result our operating return on sales fell from 12.2% to
9% this decline is primarily due to effects from commodity Hedges which is important to know in 2023 these effects had a negative impact that’s the commodity Hedges again of around 0.9 billion euros after a positive effect of around 0.8% sorry 0.8 billion EUR the year before adjusted for these effects
Earnings were up on the previous year at 7.2 billion EUR the adjusted return would be 10.3% the Bentley Lamborghini and Ducati brands also made a substantial positive contribution with a total of 1.4 billion EUR in contrast our China business totaling 95 million EUR is not included in the operating income but in our
Financial result or financial income our earnings and our return overall show one thing our business and financial management was successful in 2023 and this also applies to our net cash flow at 4.7 billion euros this was roughly On a par with the quite strong previous year it was in particular the reduction
Of inventories that had a particularly positive effect over 4 billion EUR on the other hand higher capex and development costs had a negative impact on net cash flow in the reporting year this increase is primarily due to upcoming model launches and a casing point point our showcase
You can see here the Audi q6 erron which was presented yesterday which you can see here today in the Limelight ygen you just mentioned our brand group how have Bentley Lamborghini and ducatti developed individually well as I said Our Brands did a great job financially speaking let me start with Bentley
13,600 luxury cars delivered by Bentley in 2023 11% less than in the strong previous year and revenue declined accordingly reaching € 2.9 billion EUR our operating income for Bentley that is was 589 million EUR the return on sales for Bentley reached 20.1% which was just above the Strategic Target of
20% this means that our British luxury brand has achieved more than sound key figures despite difficult conditions in some markets and a fundamentally challenging phase in the product life cycle in the coming years Bentley will gradually convert its entire product portfolio to e-mobility step by step and Bentley models will
Continue to impress with their luxury comfort and performance in 2023 lambor guini once again clearly exceeded the record numbers of the previous year across the board for the first time in its history Bentley delivered more than 10,000 cars sales revenue increased by 12% reaching €2.7 billion
EUR the operating income came in at 723 million EUR which means a record return on sales of 27.2% so that is an all-time high for Lamborghini and one thing I’m particularly pleased about as CFO is the order book of Lamborghini which is absolutely full which makes it easy to
Plan ahead the current Huracan and Urus models are sold out until the end of production and for the new revuelto the world’s first super sports car with a V12 plug-in hybrid there’s a waiting list where the waiting time is until 2026 another milestone for Lamborghini will be the all electric Grand Turismo
Based on last year’s lanzador concept study let’s stay in Italy for a minute as in the previous year for Ducati we can say that ducatti dominated the world of motorbike racing in 2023 being the first Mot motorbike manufacturer to win the Riders and manufacturers World Championships in the
Moto Moto GP and Superbike World Championships twice in a row which is a fantastic achievement but it’s also off the race track that the motorbike manufacturer has impressed us with its strong performance despite a slight decline in deliveries and sales the operating income was above the previous year’s number and that’s especially due
To A Better Mix but also due to a very consistent consistent premium strategy and ST cost discipline the bottom line was that the return on sale of Ducar was a strong 10.5% well you are really quite satisfied with the figures for 23 with Lamborghini ducatti and Bentley you’re
Really happy with the figures we noticed that but let’s take a look at the current year what do you expect well as Gard said earlier 2024 will be a transition year the overall economic situation remains difficult we we expect the passenger car markets to remain highly competitive and it’s especially in the
Bev segment the demand has recently lost momentum to some extent as a result of declining or expiring subsidies in some key markets moreover our new product such as the wonderful q6 Eon but also the A6 erron will only become fully effective in terms of volume from the second half of the
Year in addition we also expect the supply situation to remain tight in 2024 overall it’s our expectation on this basis that the sales revenue will come in at between 63 and 68 billion EUR and the operating return on sales should reach a robust level of between 8 and
10% for the current fiscal year we anticipate an investment or capex ratio of between 11 and 133% this includes research and development expenditure in total and also our CAPIC net cash flow is expected to be between two and a half and three and a half billion EUR let me
Summarize 20 24 will be a challenging year for us nevertheless we are aiming for sound financial performance even in this transition year so much for the forecast for 24 can you give us an outlook for the years after 24 of course we will continue to invest heavily in our future we plan upfront
Expenditures of around 41 billion EUR by 2028 the decrease of about 1.6 billion EUR compared to last year’s planning round is mainly due to the streamlining and optimization of our product portfolio how you defined a clear road map for the transition to e-mobility at
An early stage back in 20 or as early as in 2026 we are planning the last major world premier of new more um product lines with conventional power trains based on this decision we are seeing a decline in investment and capex in our IC models right in our current
Planning 29.5 billion EUR or more than 70% of our upfront expenditure will be spent on the future fields of e-mobility and digitalization and it’s by 2027 that we intend to substantially expand our e portfolio and offer an all electric vehicle in all core segments you mentioned it before and this morning
We already got some questions what role does our performance program performance program 14 play in this well as gnet has said with the Audi agenda first of all we have developed a clearcut plan we’re recharging Force brish Technic we’re rebalancing our organization strengthening our business in China and
North America and we’re putting our customer and quality even more Center Stage all of this will cost some money initially and this makes a strong financial performance all the more important we are bundling the necessary measures for this in performance program 14 our aim is to achieve an operating
Return on sales of 14% for the Audi group in the long term now it’s if you like the Financial foundation of the Audi agenda that I’m talking about we launched the performance program in 2023 and have achieved the first successes we have tapped into volume potential which was fully tapped we have
Managed our mix to optimize returns and we consistently scrutinized where we can we can become leaner and more efficient where we can drop unnecessary things or simplify things and this has helped us to close 2023 at a robust level in the short and medium term per performance program 14 will play an even
More important role in the light of the challenges that we outlined before on the revenue side first of all we’re benefiting above all from the numerous new models that we’ll be launching from mid 2024 at the same time we are increasingly focusing on material cost and optimizing our Logistics and production
Processes but let me explain what the biggest levers are uh they are in the long-term area we’re optimizing our product portfolio reducing complexity strengthening our product line organization ensuring faster and more robust decisions we’re optimizing our Global Production Network we are thus reducing Factory costs and increasing
Our flexibility and and these are just a few selected examples with performance program 14 we are organizing our financial success now this is challenging but we have a clear plan we have strong Brands and above all we have super attractive products and one thing we have a great
Team thank you Jurgen thank you now ladies and gentlemen the audience here on site and all those connected digitally on the webcast I’d like to remind you once again based upon what you heard from our CFO let me remind you that you can submit your questions and then in the Q&A session we
Will answer your questions but before we get to that let’s have another jat with our CEO G dner got jgen made it clear in his keynote contribution that’s 2023 was a successful year for Audi robust year let’s take a look ahead shall we what are the milestones for
24 well I believe the really important message is that there will be lots of new models for our customers that’s the good news the q6 erron is the start of a major product initiative and then step by step over the next few years we will rejuvenate our product portfolio significantly it
Will become much younger what we plan for 24 and 25 is more than 20 new models the q6 rron as I just mentioned platform PP is the backbone for further models in the summer of 24 the A6 erron will follow and the electrics Electronics architecture will also be introduced to
Our ice engine cars cars with combustion engines and that will be the premium platform combustion PPC and on this platform our ice cars will be launched in the second half of the year with the Audi A5 and Q5 we will launch cars with highly efficient modern combustion engines and
A couple of days ago we already had the world premium of the Audi A3 it was presented only recently and by 2027 all the core segments will be electrified and at the same time there will be additional emotional derivatives so our vision here is quite clear a purely electric
Portfolio most recently we had quite a few discussions but I want to make it really clear here for us and for our strategy now the future of the vehicle is electric I don’t want to leave any doubt about that and for the transition period and here we’re talking about a
Period of 10 years it will be important to offer in addition to the bevs to offer highly efficient combustion engines and plug-in hybrids and we will then with our model portfolio be excellently positioned and able to act and we can respond to different customer requirements and if there are any
Fluctuations if there are waves in the market ups and downs in the markets we can certainly respond to them excellently we will be flexible and this applies to all of the world regions and this is exactly what we address when we say our business rests on three strong pillars Europe North America and
China and this is a balanced a global structure setup as of the end of 24 in China in our new EA plant in Jang Chun and specifically for the Chinese market we will have specific cars designed for China for the Chinese market pre serious production already started at the end of
January and in addition in the south of China together with our partner syy new electric models will be developed locally on a joint platform to strengthen our position in the Chinese electric car market and very important North America particularly in the US which is the world second largest
Car market there we are looking at how Audi can grow profitably and we developed a plan for this there too transition to electric vehicles is a major opportunity for us which we would like to utilize and both in the bef and in the combustion engine markets in the United States we want to
Grow in 23 we achieved 55% growth in EV deliveries and this confirm very clearly that we have chosen the right strategy as far as Electric Mobility also in North America is concerned so we have a very clear plan also for the North American Market G last point before turning to
The QA session we’ve heard Which models have been announced how how is positioning itself for further growth in the world regions that’s certainly the operational Focus for 24 and 25 but of course in R&D you are working on the next model Generations how have you positioned yourselves for this what are the focus
Areas well naturally also in technical development we are very intensively working to get these products to the road and it’s clear for us it’s our aspiration for every new model it should have the potential to become an icon and it should meet High premium standards in terms of design quality and efficiency
And talking about quality so just focus on quality there are two Dimensions to Quality for our customers it’s product quality including service quality but I’m also very much convinced that in our company our process quality also is something we should focus on and here we’ve already started various initiatives so that
Internally in our processes will become faster more stringent because efficient and quality oriented processes will then lead to or result in the kind of cast that you see here and as we mentioned before we are in the process of revising our Matrix organization to make it more focused to introduce linear
Processes which is not an end in itself because of of thanks to Shorter development times and More entrepreneurships in our product lines we would like to demonstrate our for technique more clearly again and at the same time and DK already mentioned it we are working on a paradigm shift towards the softwar defined
Vehicle this is a development process which focuses on the importance of software and the customer experience is put at the center software will be the leading element in the development of future vehicles and all the other processes will be oriented towards it and will be based upon it together with
Volkswagen and carrier we have set up a software defined vehicle Hub and together we will develop the software and Hardware concept and together with the architecture for the next generation of vehicles Gard thank you very much for this overview so ladies and gentlemen I’ve been informed that we
Have received quite a number of questions in the meantime and we will start with the answers shortly and we’ll be back in a few Moments Okay welcome back and as I can see a number of questions have come in starting with a question from the online uh part of the audience from China Lan internet info agency asks and gun that’s a question for you ever since you’ve been CEO you’ve been to China repeatedly what are your expectations
For the future development of Audi in the Chinese market and where does Audi have to improve that’s perfectly right I went to China repeatedly and there was a very active exchange with our teams also together with hurgen ritberger in China we are still in what I would call a transition phase where
We’re going to rejuvenate and expand our product offering with a number of e models that will be launching and also new generations of IES in Shang shung in the north there is a new PPE Factory where we plan to produce specific dedicated vehicles for the Chinese markets with faw there are
Going to be three PPE models and the A6 rron the q6 erron will be those produced specifically for China industrialized for China and with pych as I mentioned before E Vehicles Progressive segment e Vehicles will be offered developed and offered for the Chinese market okay let’s continue with the next
Question Alexander demick thank you for that question deer a number of years ago Audi was the most ambitious level three uh self-driving car car maker now competing competitors have produced have been offering and developing things are you continuing that challenge or not and if not
Why first of all we believe in uh level three we see that as a future Trend and we are focusing on customer benefit and looking at what customers needs are in different driving situations for example driv parking Safety and Security and also Comfort currently we are focusing on the
Continued development of level two systems where we have a clear road map that we are pursuing expanded hands-off options that we are offering to our customers one example would be the new assist systems such as the adaptive cruise assist in the q6 erron which again you see here in this
Room then we have one question that came in from several and I’ll try to phrase it in quite a wide way it came from several uh stakeholders how are strongly are you affected by the cost cutting program of the group will jobs be shared what does the group cost cutting program mean for
Audi well we established our performance program 14 and we called it performance program for a reason not cost cutting or efficiency program because our goal is really both sides of the income statement in other words the income side and the cost side on the income side our volume
Potential is what we intend to tap into fully optimizing the mix and some after sales plans so there’s a lot of potential and of course we are looking at the cost side where cost of materials is one particular Focus which is important especially for the bevs As for employment it was back in
2019 that Audi zukun was our agreement with the employee representatives and that was uh a trailblazing employee program there were some there was some headcount reduction since and important steps were reached and with that we have a sound footing to plan and look and manage things ahead we are still looking at
Having a grip of our cost and cost discipline is very important okay then we have an individual question which was asked several times so let’s take it by John mroy autoexpress UK thank you very much for your question now the q6 zon was because of software problems was
Slightly delayed how big a problem is it for a traditional brand such as Audi compared to previous models earlier model and are you confident that you have overcome these problems now all in all we’ve been very ambitious when we set our Targets in the development of the premium platform
Electric and also the ebed architecture which is installed in this vehicle now the e/ architecture is a key technology which together with carrier and with Porche which we developed as a team and which we are launching now and digitalization and the customer experience will be raised to a new level
Thanks to it and this is why over the past few months the launch the start of these vehicles was slightly adjusted quality and maximum customer benefit were our particular focus and we conducted comprehensive tests to validate the functions and now we are finished now we are ready with the q6 and the other
Models for this future technology that we now bring to our customers and also with the level of quality the customers can expect of us good okay so then from the UK we go directly to a more local question Alexander Dak from the southwest run following question on our plant
Inas the BS counil neas is asking for much better capacity utilization of the plant and a decision in favor of further models to be produced at the necaz plant I assume that uh this refers back to the town hall meeting two weeks ago so capacity utilization is not sufficiently
Guaranteed that’s what the works council is saying are there any plans in addition to the already known and announced launches of new models now first of all we have a host of new models that we have um confirmed for necas a large range and in necas we
Are preparing the startup of the 5 I6 i7 families which will be this year and next year and we decided as of mid of the middle of the Year gradually we will be bringing all electric cars to neaul necas is a very flexible plant electrification in the D segment was
Decided for neul and as of the end of the decade the second generation of the A6 Atron will also go to nasul and there too we have a clear commitment uh in terms of capacity utilization of this plant and with all of the models that we are starting here
We have capacity utilization we are committed to it then a question which uh came in several times over Jurgen you referred to the current figures you presented the current figures let me sum it up like this how can Audi achieve its ambitious profitability Targets in the future
Based upon the results that we have seen so far now first of all we have a robust starting point where we come from in 23 I think we impressively demonstrated our economic strength in 23 and that’s important because we need this profitability to invest in the future to make sure that our the
Transformation can be financed and this is why our performance program 14 is so important where we set ourselves a very ambitious goal in the long term a sales um on Revenue 14 or return on sales of 14% is to be a we are working to improve
Our proceeds our income and here our new models our major model initiative is definitely going to help us to increase or improve our Revenue position but we are also looking at which markets we have where we can tap into additional potential and where our volume potential
Can be further exploited and at the same time as far as costs are concerned and this was included in the answer to the previous question we have a strong focus on material costs and at the same time we we are also working to become more efficient to become leaner to reduce cap
Complexity and G not gave you a really concrete example before in 23 we already made our structure of committees leaner we streamlined our committees to become faster and more efficient and also our return on sales will be further optimized by a better managed mix and there too our new
Products are going to help us last but not least with these platforms we also benefit from Synergy within the group and particularly for battery electric vehicles I believe it’s one of the keys to success well I think we already covered a good part of the response to the next
Question Leonard V automobile I think this answer basically also applies to your question which goes in the same direction additional question on pp14 the performance program you are saying goes to Mr derer but I think for both gentlemen in the performance program 14 you identified areas in which Audi wants
To become leaner more efficient where you’re going to drop a unnecessary things could you please give us a concrete example where this already happened this also goes in the direction of the answer that Jurgen just gave us I believe that Jurgen will commented on pp14 already he
Told you quite a lot about it but when we think in terms of fan and efficient when we talk about it then we really mean everything all of the areas we mean on the one hand our organizational structure and how we organize our processes and as I told you as far as
Our committees our structure of committees is concerned we definitely streamlined it now it’s much leaner and also the way we manage processes with our Matrix organization we introduced more entrepreneurship entrepreneurial Spirit into our company so that the individual product lines are companies within the companies they are the ones
Who become more leaner and more efficient as a consequence and complexity that’s something that is high priority for us and the qron already is a very good example where the complexity of software and the number of versions that can be ordered by customers was drastically reduced we have clearly predefined packages
Offering to our customers that’s good for the customers because these packages offer Extra Value so the customer has to struggle with less complexity when they order something and our expectation is and we already feel the result that our internal complexity can be reduce alongside all right I’m combining a
Number of questions again uh grouping them together questions about the end of Icees and actually postponing some of that are your IC products obsolete or what will happen after 2026 will they be combined drivetrains gut perhaps that’s a question for you well to answer that directly our IC are
Launches launch models they are Sops and will be over the next two and a half years where in all segments of IC that will be Sops with a completely new generation of internal combustion engines and hybrid since you mentioned combined power trains yes we have to be ambidextrous as I said
Before battery electric vehicles in all core segments by 2026 but in 26 and 27 new IC and plug-in hybrids will be launched as well which means a perfect footing with a completely new portfolio Bev IC and plug-in hybrids okay then thank you a question from marus F from handle’s
Blood when will we see the decision in favor of a US plant and what does this decision depend on has the presidential election an influence of the type of power train we haven’t taken the final decision yet we are investigating different scenarios on the one hand we see that
Bev demand in the US is growing and strongly so the inflation reduction act means that e-mobility in the US is getting more Dynamic it’s given a boost with the Q5 we are about to take off in Mexico which is a very important model for the North American Market we’re reviewing various options
And the decision will be taken in the planning round of uh the Volkswagen group as well the and the entire North American um region and infrastructure local infrastructure our planning is clearly more longterm than in the political Arena certainly our planning goes beyond the term of one president which means the Election um means that we are still uh working in a very flexible way Claudia Schultz next question the pioneer when do you expect battery prices to go down are you afraid of any bottlenecks well let me start the other way around the supply situation and supplier situation for Batteries is very
Good and against that backdrop today we don’t fear any bottlenecks that’s in particular true because with Battery Technology we’re using lfp technology and nmc technology at the same time of course Battery Technology is a key core and core competence that we are investing in building more knowhow within Audi but in
Particular within the Volkswagen group as far as the reduction of battery cost is concerned we are working within the entire Volkswagen Group which means we can consistently and are using effects of scale and with Powerco I think we’ve established a great Foundation but there also some technology options when it
Comes to energy density optimization in batteries so it’s our expectation to reap further benefits in terms of cost in Battery Technology okay then let’s move to Italy Alberto ano I hope I got the name right your question was Which models based on PPE are expected are
Planned and what future what will be the future of RS our most sporty models in the future as for PPE it’s a central Cornerstone of our Bev portfolio the world premier of the q6 rron yesterday was the kickoff for our model Initiative for PP in General market for Market Launches on this
Platform based on this platform towards the later part of the year so there you will see the vehicles in some of the A6 rron will be presented the PPE flat or low derivative and in addition to the q6 Eon there will also be sportier derivatives when it comes to the body
Structure so those will come later and rs RS derivatives will be part of our PPE toolkit and more details on derivatives and more model will follow in due course so things remain exciting next question now we go to Belgium Yan nagles from belga Belgium digital is there any news on future
Models for Audi Brussels could you confirm that the plant also after 2027 will still remain now all in all in the Volkswagen group we continuously work to optimize allocation of volume to the plants of our Global Production network of the Volkswagen group and this is done annually in planning rounds now the
Plant in Brussels is a Pioneer for battery electric vehicle production in the Audi group and I believe that the good news first of all is that the SOP of the Q8 Tron would be in December was in December 22 so that means the Q8 Atron and Q8 Atron boardback cars are at
The very beginning of the model life cycle and are going to be produced for a couple of years to come so the decision on Which models will come next will then be taken in the next planning rounds in the group okay then another question by Financial Times in the United States
Alil I think I’ll see you later yes now what you think about potential EU import duties on Chinese Car Imports and are you concerned about any potential countermeasures that could then be introduced by China this is a topic which is very often discussed nowadays it’s a hot debate now as a matter of
Principle we as Audi as a global company I think we benefited from globalization like many other companies and this is why we um um endorsing free and fair trade this is what we support any kind of protectionism is something that we are really worried about and at the end
Of the day these are trade obstacles that nobody will benefit from but of course the question is how would we respond if China actually wants to really Shield itself off against the other markets if they want to close themselves off we think that would be the wrong way to go there are better
Ways than well duties import duties and tariffs if a product is successful it’s going to be accepted by the market for this we don’t need any tariffs and trade barriers thank you let’s now go to China fing car and this is a question that was raised a couple of times particularly in
The context with Mercedes now Mercedes-Benz announced the face out from Petrol engine cars or it delayed the face out from Petrol engine cars now what do you think um is um Audi going to phase out cars with petrol engine cars according to the original plan what do
You think now we are fully committed to immobility we are driving this forward full force the future of the car is electric there’s no doubt about it for us we have and we will ensure that this uh combination of battery electric cars I and PVS all three will be available for the
Transition period and with this strategy since we are renewing our entire portfolio we think we are very flexibly positioned with this strategy the last World PR years for the ice engine c will be in 26 and then we have the transition period And by 2033 we
Plan to conduct the phase out but if there are any ups and downs in the markets if there are waves occurring again in the transition period if there are fluctuations we can flexibly react to it in all World regions we can respond to any kind of fluctuations in the
Market then I’m going to combine a couple of questions and this is something we discuss quite frequently now recent ly the first um Freight ship f with byd cars reached Germany how seriously do we take this are we afraid of the urge of Chinese Brands to expand into Europe you
Know talking about the first shipments by byd to Europe on a ship on a container ship it’s similar to what we said before about um teres and import duties on trade we as a global company we are committed to fair and open worldwide trade and that’s really
Good we are very confident as far as Chinese competitors are concerned we are expanding our immobility and the q6 is an excellent example that we are very well positioned and at the same time we are really relying on our particular strength and this is design and quality this is driving behavior handling safety
This is what we benefit from our own strength and I’m convinced that in the premium segment in particular we will continue to offer highly ATT Ive products so I believe we don’t need to be afraid of any additional compet competition from China now the question about the North
American sites has not been fully addressed yet because check wellworth from Automotive news is asking would Audi you know the upcoming Scout production site in South Carolina would you use it for assembly of cars and does Audi develop a car on the basis of the upcoming Scout platform as I said
Before no decision has yet been taken whether in future Audi will manufacture in the United States we are still examining potential scenarios there all in all the new Scout plant in a different function a different role I was involved there and I think it’s an excellent idea and it’s a wonderful
Opportunity for the Volkswagen group as a whole but as a matter of principle with such a platform and such a plant where it’s possible to benefit from synergies within their group and a diversified portfolio is conceivable and all in all what we are doing and that’s clear our Global portfolio will
Be expanded by market specific derivatives and models but we are cannot communicate on this yet we’ll do it in time thank you now I’m going to combine a couple of questions once again it’s charging infrastructure charging speed and charging per se charging generally let me sum it up like this charging
Speed charging on the go that’s difficult and it’s one of the reasons why possibly certain customers are reluctant to buy an EV so what is our response to this now first of all the question I believe certainly addresses one of the reasons why so many customers are reluctant to buy an EV
Nowadays charging and this is why we are addressing this topic the combination of range and charging speed we really put it at the very top of our list of priorities so it’s the combination of the two what we need is a high basic range that the electric car
Can cover but we also need excellent charging performance and I believe that q6 Atron if I can use it as a reference here we have both we have 600 km range and just as important to me we have extremely rapid charging 270 Kow uh charging performance and this means that
Uh 250 km of range can be charged within can we recharge in 10 minutes and that’s the time that otherwise you would just just you know have a break at um a rest station along or rest area along the motorway and and that’s the time you need for recharging and as far as
Charging infrastructure is concerned we do see some progress I think 120,000 charging points rapid charging points for 1.4 million bef cars that’s what we see now in the Volkswagen group all also has 40,000 high performance charges in the EU China and the United States that’s the group’s contribution and it’s
Very important that all of this needs to be combined the infrastructure and the ramp up of EVs and here we are also making our contribution and the most important point is range of the EVs and charging speed thank you let’s turn to a question that came from several again it’s relatively
Clear and about one thing when will we get an Affordable Electric entry level model of Audi this is something that we’ve been discussing in our portfolio discussions on the board of management very active discussions on this during the last few months in the medium term an additional
Electric model below the Q4 erron will be launched and I can tell you this it will be a wonderful unique independent vehicle con ccept it will be produced in inat and it will be a model that we can all look forward to okay then let’s go back to nikul
Alexander dumak a second question on Berlinger herin will there be a successor to the R8 there which reaches its EOP and will the strategy of the complete phase out of ice engines be reviewed again reconsidered if the sales volume of EV calls is not picking up speed as
Planned well let me give you three parts to that answer or that three parts to the question the sales volume of e Vehicles not picking up speed as plan the last part of your question there go back to what we said during the presentations with have a flexible setup with Bev ice and
Paves and of course we are regularly reviewing our strategy and will always be capable of acting and adapting Bing a hoer and the R8 and capacity utilization at Binger the rron GT secures capacity utilization the R8 was an important brand shaper today it’s seen as an icon for
And of Audi our Focus currently is the electrification of our portfolio and the product initiative with more than 20 models in 24 and 25 we will continue to offer highly emotional derivatives to our customers so uh there’ll be a lot of good stuff coming from Audi over the next few
Years okay next question is from Micha Rush from nzz in Switzerland he asks about the US market where Audi has planned stronger growth for a long time compared to the EU and China now sales levels are relatively low there a stronger increase of sales what’s your plan to make sure it happens this
Time first of all we find that with 229,000 units the year 2023 was the best selling year ever at Audi 22% plus year on year and for Bev Vehicles we recorded plus 55% that market and that gives us additional Tailwind for our us strategy I tried to explain this earlier during my introductory
Part it’s our plan to establish the us as a strong third pillar in our Global footprint that’s where we see two significant specific opportun ities one is is the additional electrification with highly attractive products that we are launching step by step in the market to participate in the transition towards
Electric and the second dimension is that the US is quite heterogeneous so our new generation of ice engines and highly emotional derivatives that are hugely popular in the US mean that with this two-pronged strategy we expect to to address the US market in quite a different successful way with huge steps
Towards substantially higher volumes in the US thank you and I think uh in conclusion because we’re running out of time would be good good to go back to China China business news is asking what about collaboration between s and Audi how well is it working and second how’s the positioning of the
First new model what’s the positioning that is last year an mou was signed with sake last year and it’s our goal that together an intelligent fully networked vehicle will be developed that’s what’s the central part of our collaboration a new Target group we want to approach
With a new market segment as well that we want to be attractive for with in the very Progressive segment and then we will see how we can develop things I think the headline would be the best of Two Worlds that’s the best way of summarizing it our technology strengths in design and
Styling quality Dynamic driving combining that with our technology strengths of our Chinese partner I am firmly convinced that we will be making a compelling offer that will enrich and expand our portfolio great thank you that was was the last question this was the annual media conference Audi 2024 garet Jurgen
Thank you so much and thank you all in here in this room in this Hall and thank you every to everybody listening and watching online thank you for joining us and quite soon the recording will be available from our audio media center website and all the information audio video
Information written information for the past fiscal year it was great to have you thank you and see you next time