Audi will spend 24bn Euros to develop technology and expand production, boosting its five-year investment plan by two billion Euros as it chases BMW for the top spot in luxury-car sales.
With its eye set on overtaking BMW as the leading luxury automaker in the world, Volkswagen-owned Audi announced this week that it will be spending $29.3bn on new models, new manufacturing facilities, and new tech.
In a statement issued Saturday, Audi said it would increase its car manufacturing operations investments by two billion Euros, pushing the total up to 24b Euros 2015 through 2019.
Reports have been suggesting that Audi may be challenging Tesla with an EV of its own, and this solidifies the German company’s plans to stand out in the ‘green’ car space. 70% of this investment will go toward plug-in hybrid technologies with lower emissions, pure electric systems, and other forms of automotive tech.
In addition, over 50% of the investment would be spent on Audi’s Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm factories in Germany; these two plants took up about half of Audi’s nine-month output of 1.34m vehicles.
The company also plans to expand its stable of vehicles from 50 as of the present to 60 as of 2020, and will be spending more than one billion Euros on new facilities in emerging markets Brazil and Mexico. For the latter plant, which will host manufacture of the Q5 SUV, Audi will be hiring 850 new workers in the coming year.
