[INTERVIEW] Audi board member is confident about what 2023 can offer automaker

Industry

Published: 17 Mar. 2023, 12:47

[INTERVIEW] Audi board member is confident about what 2023 can offer automaker

Hildegard Wortmann, a board member of Audi AG for Sales and Marketing [AUDI KOREA]

For Audi, Korea is the country that has been seeing the largest on-year increase in sales so far this year.

But Hildegard Wortmann, 56, is confident that the German brand still has more room to grow. Wortmann is a board member of Audi AG who oversees marketing and sales.

“Sales in Korea in the first two months of the year rose 87 percent on year, which is the largest year-on-year increase in any country,” Wortmann said during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on March 16.

“Our Q4 e-tron SUVs were all sold out in only two months after their launch,” Wortmann added. “I’m so much confident about the potential of Audi in Korea.”

A total of 1,987 Q4 e-tron SUVs were sold in the two months after their introduction in September in Korea, becoming the best-selling compact segment imported EV last year.

The result came in the midst of tough circumstances as the EV is not qualified for any subsidies from the Korean government.

The Q4 e-tron can travel 368 kilometers (230 miles) per charge, but is not eligible for the subsidy as it fell short of Korea's Environment Ministry standard in terms of winter mileage.

All electric cars experience some degree of mileage loss in cold weather.

The Q4 e-tron 40 SUV [AUDI KOREA]

When asked about Audi’s potential competitor in the market, Wortmann did not specify any names but emphasized the importance of digitalization and connectivity.

“Asian competitors, including those from China, give important impulses when it comes to digitalization and connectivity,” Wortmann added. “With Cariad, we have a strong partner for working on these topics.”

Volkswagen Group announced it will invest 30 billion euros ($32 billion) in Cariad, its software subsidiary, for software development. The group has ten brands from five European countries — Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini.

When asked about a possible plan for eFuel development, which Porsche is currently focusing on, Wortmann adamantly drew the line.

Synthetic fuel — called eFuel by Porsche — is created by splitting water into oxygen and green hydrogen, then combining carbon dioxide with green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which is then converted into e-fuel, which can be used in regular combustion engines.

“The eFuels are an interesting option, but Audi does not intend to produce our own fuels for strategic reasons,” Wortmann said. “But at the moment, Audi is clearly committed to going electrification, and the plan will never be influenced by anything.”

Lynn Lim, the new head of Audi Korea, is both the first female and the first Korean manager to lead the Audi brand since it entered the Korean market in 2004. [YONHAP]

Audi already has eight pure battery-powered EVs in its lineup and aims to introduce only fully electric vehicles from mid-2026.

“We plan to expand the BEV portfolio to over 20 models by 2027,” Wortmann said adding that, the Q6 e-tron, the first model based on its Premium Platform Electric (PPE) platform, will be released later this year.

PPE is Audi’s EV-dedicated platform that it has been developing with Porsche, which guarantees fast charging and extremely high energy density.

Wortmann believes the ideal charging time for EVs is less than 20 minutes to charge from 20 percent to 80 percent.

Audi has long been maintaining its No. 3 position in the Korean imported automaker market, right after Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

It sold 21,402 vehicles in Korea last year, having 7.6 percent of the Korean imported market, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.

Volkswagen Group Korea named Lynn Lim as the new head of Audi Korea in June aiming to target the market with more localization strategies.

Lim is both the first female and first Korean manager to lead the Audi brand since it entered the local market in 2004.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]