Audi Looks Into Other Ways To Sell EVs

Audi believes that the future of the brand will rest on electric vehicles. In fact, the German automaker wants to have 25 percent of vehicles sold to be electric. Now this goal is way down the line, but Audi is beginning to make this a reality with a number of electric vehicles going into development. They are also tackling how they will sell them.

A recent piece in the New York Times said that dealerships were a stumbling block when selling electric vehicles either because they didn't know anything about them or pushed buyers into buying a gas-powered vehicle. Tesla is the only automaker that no problem with selling their models, but that is due to their decision of opening their own stores.

Autoblog had the chance to speak with executives from Audi of America about how they plan to sell EVs. First up is Filip Brabec, Audi of America's director of product management. He explained that EVs may need a new experience at dealers.

"A lot of it has to do with the complexity of the product and the complexity of the offer and it's difficult, I think, to bring that into a classical dealership and sort of treat is as another car and off we go. I think there needs to be some differences in how we go in the future," said Brabec.

Another key point is to get consumers into those vehicles.

"I think exposing consumers to EVs, letting them experience EVs is another big aspect, and probably different than we have today, because test driving a car today is a very conventional thing. It's probably not going to be as conventional with EVs, particularly if you've never been in one before."

Second was Audi of America's president Scott Keogh who explained that Tesla showed everyone that providing a complete experience was a very smart move. But Keogh believes that Audi could do a much better job than Tesla when they start building their own EVs.

Source: Autoblog, New York Times