Audi’s original plan to go fully electric is now ‘flexible’

German automaker Audi was among the very first to hop on the ‘all-electric by 2030’ hype train, but it appears that the company just hit the brakes to reassess its EV plan.

Considering the rise and eventual fall of EV sales over the past years, this is by no means a unique situation.

Most automakers committed to stopping the production of gas cars as soon as they could and only keeping electrified models in their lineup.

However, time has run its course, and we now have the same brands showing a love for internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

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Audi to slow down on its all-electric plans

The four-ring brand’s original plan was to electrify its entire portfolio by 2033, with the last of its gas cars rolling out in 2026.

The revised idea — at least in the minds of the VW Group’s (which owns the Audi brand) top brass — is to stick with gas cars for a tad bit longer.

Although the automaker didn’t send out a full-fledged announcement, it probably never will.

Audi founder and CEO Gernot Döllner spoke with Top Gear, revealing that the brand is flexible now that the European Union has pushed back the ICE-vehicle ban.

For context, the EU had originally planned to ban the sales of all gas cars by 2035, but it’s now indefinitely delayed.

This also doesn’t mean Audi doesn’t like EVs — on the contrary, it’s one of the brands with the most electric cars.

However, EV sales have been declining, so it’s not going all-in with electrics just yet.

Regardless of all this, the top brass still believes that EVs are the eventual future of all cars, but it will take longer to get there.

Döllner further mentioned that all future ICE cars will come with a plug-in hybrid variant because you get the best of both worlds in that scenario.

Other brands are in a similar situation with gas cars

This is certainly not the first automaker we’ve seen self-introspecting about its electric plans.

Volkswagen, another brand under the VW Group, also mentioned that it’s modifying its EV budget to spend some more on gas cars.

Mercedes, too, is choosing to invest in high-tech combustion over the total EV future.

This doesn’t mean it’s the end of EVs, but convincing an immensely large audience with gas cars to shift to EVs is no easy task.

Although electric cars are cheaper to own than gas cars in almost all states in the US, it’s more about breaking tradition and building trust.

Some automakers like Nissan are still confident that pushing an all-electric lineup is the way to go.

It will be interesting to see how the planned all-electric future plays out, but we’ll just have to wait and see.