As of 2026, Audi will only launch all-electric models onto the global market, gradually phasing out production of its combustion models by 2033. Based on this clear decision made as part of its Vorsprung 2030 corporate strategy, Audi is now taking steps to prepare its global facilities for the production of all-electric cars. Audi is building on its existing global production network to achieve this vision.
Assembling the Audi e-tron GT at Böllinger Höfe
Step by step, we are bringing all our sites into the future We don’t want any standalone lighthouse projects on greenfield sites. Instead, we are investing in our existing plants so they end up being just as efficient and flexible as newly built production sites or greenfield plants.
—Audi Board Member for Production and Logistics Gerd Walker
By the end of the decade, Audi will be making electric-drive models at all of its production sites worldwide. Two sites, Böllinger Höfe and Brussels, are already producing all-electric vehicles. Starting next year, the Audi Q6 e-tron will be the first all-electric model to roll off the production line in Ingolstadt.
Production of all-electric cars will gradually start in Neckarsulm, San José Chiapa, and Győr as well. In 2029, all production sites will be producing at least one all-electric vehicle model. Depending on local conditions, production of the remaining combustion models will be gradually phased out by the beginning of the next decade.
New plants will only be built where additional capacity is needed. For example, Audi and its partner FAW are currently building a site in Changchun (China) where models based on the PPE (Premium Platform Electric) technology platform will be locally produced. With construction set to finish by the end of 2024, this will be the first automotive plant in China where only all-electric Audi models roll off the line.
Audi’s production network is intended to be economical, sustainable, and attractive as well as flexible. To ensure that future production will be economical, Audi wants to cut annual factory costs in half by 2033. To achieve this, Audi plans to reduce the complexity of its vehicles where it does not benefit the customer. To this end, vehicle development will take a streamlined production process into account from stage one.
Audi will also continue to digitalize production, for example, with the Edge Cloud 4 Production solution using local servers. (Earlier post.) This will make it possible to replace expensive industrial PCs, reducing IT efforts such as software rollouts and operating system changes.
In the future, Audi will also be using another new solution—cycle-independent modular assembly—to simplify work with high product variability. Virtual assembly planning saves material resources and makes innovative, flexible collaboration possible across locations.
Audi will make its manufacturing processes even more flexible. The new Audi Q6 e-tron, for example, will initially be made in Ingolstadt on the same line as the Audi A4 and A5. The electric models will then gradually replace the combustion cars on the lines.
Audi has been pursuing its Mission:Zero environmental program to reduce its ecological footprint related to production and logistics since 2019. The program’s central goal is to make all Audi production sites worldwide net carbon neutral1 by 2025.
To this end, the plants in Brussels and Győr as well as the Böllinger Höfe in Neckarsulm have already been converted. The environmental program also addresses the areas of resource and water efficiency as well as the protection and preservation of biodiversity. For example, Audi plans to halve today’s ecologically weighted water consumption value in its production sites by 2035.
In 2018, Audi México became the world’s first premium manufacturer to produce cars completely wastewater-free. At the Neckarsulm site, a water cycle was set up in a pilot project between the factory and the neighboring municipal wastewater treatment plant, which will reduce the demand for freshwater by more than 70%.
By 2030, Audi aims to cut its absolute environmental impact in the areas of primary energy consumption, power plant emissions, CO2 equivalents, air pollutants, local water risk, and wastewater and waste volumes in half, compared with the 2018 figure. Important steps to achieve this goal include generating renewable energy in-house and using innovative technologies to create more circular value chains where resources used are utilized in closed cycles.
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