Audi CEO Says "Tesla Is Two Years Ahead" Of Competition In Crucial EV Aspects
Audis new CEO acknowledges that Tesla is two years ahead of the rest of the industry in some crucial aspects of electric vehicles. A possible reason for this is the way Tesla works. While most other auto majors follow a tedious process of developing a vehicle due to their vast operation scale Tesla has worked much like a start-up.
Having led the global electric vehicle revolution for a while now, Tesla now enjoys a pole position in the EV market, both in terms of sales as well as EV technology advancements. Audi¡¯s new CEO acknowledges that.
Markus Duesmann, Audi¡¯s new CEO, has recently been quoted, admitting that the Audi¡¯s EV competitor Tesla is ¡°two years ahead¡± of the rest of the industry in some crucial aspects of electric vehicles.
A recent report by Reuters quotes Duesmann as saying, ¡°Currently, Tesla has larger batteries because their cars are built around the batteries. Tesla is two years ahead in terms of computing and software architecture, and in autonomous driving as well.¡±
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann (Image: Reuters)
A possible reason for this is the way Tesla works. While most other auto majors follow a tedious process of developing a vehicle due to their vast operation scale, Tesla has worked much like a start-up to push for the production of vehicles in the shortest timelines possible.
Audi to follow
Duesmann has now employed the same approach for Audi. Within two months of taking office as the new CEO at Audi, Duesmann started following Tesla¡¯s example for an ¡°accelerated development of additional automobile models.¡±
The efforts will be made under a new group called ¡®Artemis¡¯ within Audi to ¡°develop a pioneering model for Audi quickly and unbureaucratically.¡±
The first goal of the group is to develop ¡°a highly efficient electric car that is scheduled to be on the road as early as 2024.¡±
2020 Audi e-tron Sportback (Representative Image: Audi)
The desire to make more electric cars is partly fueled by the rising demand for EVs in the post Covid-19 era. Several governments have started offering massive incentives to EV buyers in a push to greener commute and Audi naturally wants to have a share of the rising market.
As per the report by Reuters quoting Duesmann, Audi is targeting sales of 40,000 e-tron branded cars in 2020, after selling 17,000 in the first six months.
That, however, is a whole different focus than catching up on Tesla on the technology front. With the US EV maker offering the best in class range and features, it might take some time for the German counterpart to do so.
