With the auto industry rapidly shifting towards electrified mobility, autonomous driving and connected cars, every carmaker is lining up big amounts to invest in each of those sectors. German carmaker Audi is one of those players who want to be taken seriously. In fact, too seriously. The folks from Ingolstadt have announced their five-year investment plan, starting from 2019 until 2023. The company will spend around 40 billion euros, out of which nearly 35 per cent will be concentrated on electric mobility, digitalisation and autonomous driving. Do the math, and it will equate to 14 billion euros.

Audi has set itself a target of launching approximately 20 electrified models by the middle of next decade. About half out of those will feature an all-electric powertrain. Apart from introducing new models, the VW-owned brand will also be spending in digitising its plants and vehicles as well as expanding its business model with new digital services such as “functions on demand”.

To diversify future electrified models, Audi is currently working with sister concerns – Porsche and Volkswagen. With the former, Audi is working to develop the “premium architecture electrification” for large electric models, whereas, with the latter, it is co-engineering the “modular electric drive kit” for volume segment electric models.

This year, Audi officially entered the electric vehicle (EV) space by unveiling the production-spec of the e-tron SUV and the concept form of the e-tron GT. While the former has claimed the title of the first-ever EV with the four-rings logo, the latter will become the third chapter for Audi’s EV innings when it enters production in late 2020. Between them will be the e-tron Sportback, which is likely to hit the market by the end of next year.