Avant-garde and sensitivity

This article is published in issue 4 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until January 26, 2021

“The credibility of what you do today is the daughter of what you imagined yesterday,” he tells us Fabrizio Longo, director of Audi Italia, in explaining how, even in a sector in full expansion such as that of sustainability, dedication, experience, commitment are to be preferred to improvisation. The car manufacturer, in fact, is consolidating its role as leader of the premium market, even in the age of green mobility, thanks to a massive investment plan that began in unsuspected times.

Before and beyond fashion.

“The 2020 that we have archived, so particular from many points of view, has given a comforting signal as regards the numbers of the electric in the progressive one, perhaps still slow, but in this moment inexorable contact with the market, in which Italy is certainly below the European average ”, analyzes the manager. “Compared to a total market decline of 28 percent, registrations of all-electric cars tripled compared to the previous year and the plug-in hybrid doubled. So, in total we have reached almost 60 thousand registrations ».

What is happening?
“I believe that, in terms of hierarchy, the increase in the offer that concerns both generalist brands and premium brands is certainly justifying this leap. An increasingly mature and usable offer, because two fundamental characteristics are increasing – which in some respects I consider even more important than the charging infrastructure -, the distance, therefore the autonomy of the cars, and the charging time. Then certainly the fact that progressively, not yet at the desirable pace, the infrastructural adaptation is giving signs of implementation. These are arguments that make the customer much more confident in adopting alternatives to traditional internal combustion engines, both petrol and diesel. There is a part of the market that is already ready – and it is showing it to us also with the leap in volumes we made this year with pure electric -, then there is another that, instead, is approaching. more gradually, but with a strong sensitivity to the electric world governed by the plug-in. We are working on the two areas in parallel, although on the electric side we have realized that beyond the public recharge, we must take care of the domestic one. Therefore, we have strengthened our partnership that was born three years ago with Enel and started that with another operator, Alpiq. Furthermore, we have developed a commercial formula which is called e-tron Bridge, an access solution to our electric range that launches a sort of psychological challenge to the customer. The challenge is to tell him: “Do you want to buy an e-tron, but you are not 100 percent sure? Well, you buy it, but you have the option to exit that contract early, free of charge within the first year and replace it with any mobility solution in the range, mild hybrid, plug-in or methane. It was a great success ».

In fact, the e-tron family continues to grow …
“We now have Audi e-tron and e-tron Sportback, which is really enjoying it. But we are on the eve of the launch of two products that will, in my opinion, be the source of a very strong acceleration both from a commercial and perception point of view. The first, which we will introduce in the spring, is the Audi e-tron GT, a very high-performance car with acceleration under 4 seconds. Serious, true, pure sportsmanship, without compromises, however, within an equation of total sustainability ».

The second debut?
“The other product that will be the turning point this year, and for the next few years, is the Q4 e-tron, which is Audi’s first ever compact zero-emission SUV. So far we have worked on the top of the range, with e-tron, e-tron Sportback and the GT itself of course. With the Q4, on the other hand, we enter that type of body, of dimensions that today the market is undoubtedly willing to reward ».

Instead, what commitments are you making in the long term?
«All this is part of an electric offensive which, within five years, will be able to count on 30 highly electrified models, 20 of which have zero emissions. And it is accompanied by a fundamental, structural operation: certification carbon-neutral of all production sites. To make these cars zero-emission not only when they go around the streets, but in all the individual steps and production processes. The goal is to reduce CO emissions2 of 1.2 million tons for each car produced by 2025. This actually means achieving a total decarbonisation of the production cycle in five years: it is a program called Mission Zero. Such a promise is extraordinarily demanding. We have already started two years ago: the Brussels factory where the e-tron was born is already decarbonised, like that of Gyor in Hungary and the factory that produces the e-tron GT. At the moment we are transforming the German production plants, Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. These things are not decided in five seconds. It means having had years ago not only the vision, but also the sensitivity to intervene with important investments so that – in the management of aluminum, plastics, water – our factories could change their appearance and be in total harmony with the inspiring principle of cars that are zero-emission from production to use. But for Audi it is not a revolution: it is the coherent evolution of a brand for which the avant-garde has been the mantra since its birth ».

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