Electric Cars will Help Audi Win More of the US Market, says Keogh

Audi USA has been on a hot streak, setting a new monthly sales record every month since 2011. There’s still room to grow, though, and Audi USA’s President, Scott Keogh, sees electric cars as the key to that growth.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Keogh said that though the Audi still has ground to make up on the competition, its electric cars will far outperform those brands in the electric market.

“I think Audi is going to dramatically over-perform in electric versus the total industry, because honestly I feel that we have the right demographic that is interested in this,” he told Bloomberg.

The first such model, the e-Tron, Audi is expected to hit the road next year and is being sold as the first true electric SUV. That, argues the brand, is because the Tesla Model X is more of a crossover, or a minivan by another name.

The e-Tron will be followed by more electric vehicles bearing the e-Tron badge and by 2025, the brand expects to have 15-20 electrified vehicles in its fleet. That will include not only pure electric cars, but plug-in hybrids as well.

Keogh said that sales of traditional cars will continue to drive sales—there’s room for growth in the south and the in the middle of the country—but that a new technology will open up even more avenues for growth.

“The fact is there’s 25-26 million luxury cars on the road, yet there’s only 1.3-1.4 million sold a year. There just hasn’t been a new stimulus,” said Keogh. “If you do it right with electrification and autonomous, that’s going to drive the market and I think we’re well positioned to take advantage of it.”

[source: Bloomberg]

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