Autocar confidential: Audi's electric confidence, Gordon Murray's T50 successors
Our reporters empty their notebooks to round up a week in gossip from across the automotive industry
In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, Audi reveals why it's confident that its positioning as a premium electric brand will hold up, BMW hints that improving tech could reduce model life cycles and more.
*Audi's electric confidence*
As Audi goes all-electric, boss Markus Duesmann reckons the premium positioning of its models will hold strong. “We think customers will continue to be willing to pay for products they believe in,” he said. “It happens in perfumes, in clothes, in watches, even in pencils. People will choose a brand whose values embody their beliefs and values.”
*BMW development prediction*
BMW R&D boss Frank Weber has hinted that model life cycles could reduce in line with rapidly improving technology. “Five years is becoming a really long time for development,” he said, “not just technologically but also when you look at how society was five years ago. Look at how digital dominates today versus 10 years ago. You can expect that this will be even faster in the next 10 years.”
*Gordon Murray's EV diversification*
The Gordon Murray Group has announced that it will follow up its T50 supercar with a modular EV platform and a range of electric powertrains, but McLaren F1 designer Murray himself doesn’t see diversification as a dilution of his values. “We see a huge opportunity to bring our speed and expertise into the electrification era,” he said.
*Hyundai's Kona N buyers*
Who would actually buy Hyundai’s new 276bhp Kona N, you might ask. Well, N boss Till Wartenberg has thoroughly considered that: “i20 N [hatchback] buyers are toy-seekers and the Elantra N [saloon] is for the established family that wants the joy of driving, but the Kona N is the sweet spot where we cater to individualists, young singles and young families.”
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