The outgoing head of Audi Sport has confirmed that Ingolstadt’s performance division has plans to expand its crossover range.
Stephan Winkelmann, who will leave Audi Sport to head up Bugatti from the start of 2018, told Autocar that he was “looking into cars which are, let’s say, in a growing segment or a body segment which is growing”.
“These are the Qs. We will get more of them and we think that this is going to help us because every car we are building, and every car we are investing in, should have global visibility, so not just in Europe but in Asia and the Americas,” Winkelmann said.
He also told the British publication that Audi Sport would become “less evolutionary and more into revolution” in the coming years, with the introduction of “battery electric vehicles” from 2020.
“This will start by the end of 2020, with the first car of Audi Sport, and then there will be more coming in the third decade of this millennium,” he said.
However, Winkelmann insisted that Audi Sport would not lose sight of its “icons”.
“In 2018, 2019 and 2020, we will have a lot of turbo engines with new models. We are not forgetting our icons, so we will continue to build them. Even if we keep in mind that electrification is important for us, legislators permitting, our turbo engines will stay because we are very proud of these,” he said.
