Audi dealers have noted that the inventory problems they have been experiencing may not end until next year. These challenges remain as the German automaker struggles to procure enough microchips to keep its vehicle production going, according to an executive.
Due to supply difficulties that have impeded manufacturing at its factories in Germany and Mexico, Audi’s U.S. dealers have struggled to make ends meet with few new vehicles to offer for the past year. The inventory tracker on the website AudiUSA.com showed slightly under 16,000 new cars in inventory in the continental US. Sales were also down 35% in the first quarter to 35,505 units.
During a press conference on new battery-electric and internal combustion engine vehicles, Oliver Hoffmann, chief of technological development at Audi AG, talked about the German automaker’s production difficulties.
Hoffmann also provided some specifics regarding Audi’s aggressive product strategy as it switches to an all-EV lineup. Twenty new EV vehicles will be released between 2023 and 2027, and Audi expects to release 20 new ICE and EV offerings by 2025.
The brand expects to continue offering conventional sedans, crossovers, sportback crossovers, as well as RS and S performance variants even as the company shifts into an EV-focused lineup outside of China by 2033.
Audi, a division of the Volkswagen Group, is moving its model lineup to a modular platform created in collaboration with Porsche. Hoffmann disclosed that the company had divided the modular platform based on powertrain, with future ICE-powered vehicles sharing a “PPC” platform while EVs would adopt a battery-powered “PPE” platform.
The current MLB platform, which now supports Audi’s A4 through A8 sedans and coupes and its Q5 through Q8 crossovers in the United States, would be replaced by the PPC platform.
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