A global brand but local cars is Audi's future, says CEO

Source: Ars Technica

Audi’s Global Strategy

MUNICH—One of the defining car industry trends of the early 21st century was the global, or world, car. The idea was to spread development costs across multiple markets and let efficiency take care of the rest. Post‑COVID, post‑Ever Given, and in a world now erupting into trade wars and actual shooting wars, plans need to change.

“With Audi, we have to be flexible on a global perspective,” said Audi AG CEO Gernot Döllner, “and the new Q9 is an example of that. It’s really the car where US requirements were at the center of the product development process. It’s dedicated to the US for the first time. Global launch, not Europe and then US. And for the Q9, it’s the US first and then it’s also dominated the volume we expect by the US American market. And then after the US, we will have the global launch of that car.”

That means bigger and better cup holders that can handle insulated mugs, as we saw from the Q9’s interior (see details). It also means paying more attention to metrics such as JD Power surveys. For the Q9, Döllner explained:

“We rearranged the smart door panels we have in our A5, A6, and Q5 cars and came back to dedicated switches, optimized the interior cooling, and of course seating, the roof concept, all that with a key customer focus.”

“We definitely will be able to keep Europe and the US together when it comes to products. And we will do that by listening more carefully to US customers, because I learned that earlier in my career, that’s no problem in Europe to have a product that’s perfect for the US, but sometimes it’s the other way around a little bit difficult, which is absolutely alright.”