Thursday our day trip was to Audi. This was most definitely the company tour I was looking forward to most. The facility was in the town of Ingolstadt which was dominated by the vast size of Audi’s plant. When we first arrived, we walked through the Audi museum which was any car fanatics dream. On display, they had just about every model of Audi manufactured since 1899. My favorites were the 1985 Quattro and the 1973 100 C1. After the museum, we walked through the production floor where giant machines were crushing thousands of pounds of metal into fixtures for the car. There was far more automation at the Audi plant compared to the MAN facility. Additionally, there were completed Audi’s being driven around the plant and the workers driving them were zooming. That could just be the sheer power of the R8 though.
We ate lunch at the Audi cafe and it was extremely good. I ordered the schnitzel which was served with sauerkraut, obviously a German staple. We wrapped up the tour and then listened to guest speaker, Patrick Will who was kind enough to give us his time even though he was on maternity leave. Our discussion consisted of Audi’s plan to become fully electric by 2026 in Europe. Interestingly, Audi has an older age demographic so this shift away from ICE engines to help climate issues may alter the profitability for the company as a whole. However, Audi has recently seen increases in EV sales and non-domestic deliveries. So, the future of Audi will become fully electric and the cultural shift away from combustion engines as a German society will hopefully pan out in favor of Audi. On the other hand, Audi will be fully depended in a market where there are larger competitors. Chinese EV manufacturers like BYD provide more practical and affordable options, making them a better fit for cost-conscious consumers compared to Audi’s premium, high-priced offerings. So the question is: can the iconic strength of Audi’s four rings hold its own against competitors who’ve been shaping the electric vehicle landscape for years? But only time will be able to tell what Audi’s future has in store.
