With Q4 e-tron and Q6 e-tron inbound to round-up Audi’s all-electric range here by 2024, Audi Singapore’s MD Markus Schuster chats about the brand’s electrification journey in Singapore

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SINGAPORE

“What we’ve seen in countries where the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) trend first starts, it begins rather slow (like in Singapore), but then sees exponential growth once it hits a critical point,” says Mr. Markus Schuster – Managing Director of Audi Singapore – at a dialogue session organised by the brand as a soft-launch for the Q8 e-tron at the Shangri-La Singapore.

He continues, “If we look at the premium market in Singapore, the EV share was previously around 18 per cent, but this year it is up to 20 per cent and growing from month to month. However, the ‘tipping point’ in Singapore will depend very much on the development of charging infrastructure, because this indicates a clear commitment from the government.”

Still, before any widespread adoption of electric vehicles can take place, an entire ecosystem has to be created to demonstrate commitment from both the brands and the government to support the buying populace’s appetite for the technology.

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This shouldn’t just be limited to incentives and charging infrastructure, but should encompass immersive brand experiences, a seamless transition between public and private transport, as well as growing a community of like-minded individuals. 

However, Markus understands that investing in charging infrastructure shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of the government and public institutions.

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“This is why we founded Audi Destination Charging, which has 38 charging points in 12 destinations around Singapore. We believe that charging shouldn’t be something that interrupts or gets in the way of your daily life, so we selected the destinations based on where people would travel to any way,” he says.

If you recall, the original Audi e-tron SUV was one of the first all-electric crossover-type vehicles to be launched in Singapore in 2020 (ahead of the government EV incentives, we’d like to add).

Since then, it’s been joined by the e-tron GT, the Q8 e-tron now, with the Q6 and Q4 e-trons expected in 2024 to bolster the e-tron range in Singapore. As a side-note, from the Q8 e-tron onwards, even numbers will be reserved for the EVs and the odd numbers, ICE – we’re wondering what happens to the odd numbers when Audi’s final ICE model is phased-out though…

Markus explains that Audi’s strategy for EVs is very clear and it’s a bonus that the city-state of Singapore is the perfect environment for electric vehicles. For starters, the average travelling distance isn’t large for most Singaporeans, so range anxiety for most is psychological rather than real, not least because current Audi EVs like the Q8 e-tron already boast a full-charge range of 600km.

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In particular, the Q4 e-tron is positioned a little further down the price ladder and Markus believes it will make Audi EVs even more accessible to drivers in Singapore thanks to its size and price. In fact, the e-tron GT already saw new customers entering the Audi fold and “it is always a good thing for a car manufacturer to acquire new customers with a new model launch.”

With changing times and evolving buyers, Markus feels it is very important in the coming years for Audi to create an ecosystem for the customers where they can enjoy an omni-channel experience. Ultimately, it’s all about creating more touchpoint options between the brand and its customers.

‘MyAudiWorld’, which curates exclusive drive/dining events for its owners, already forms part of the ownership experience, with the recently launched Audi Service App creating another avenue of communication between owner and the Audi dealer for service appointments.

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“In the end, people expect that they can choose and they can do whatever they want to be in contact with the brand and this is why we’re working on new modes to engage with the customers. We’re working to give the customer much more of an online brand experience in the future and we’re investing in this over the next few years. We’re excited because it offers the possibility to be in much more regular touch with the customers than it was in the past,” Markus tells us.

More crucially, he tells us that all new model introductions that Audi will bring to the market from 2026 onwards will be pure electric, with the last of the ICE models produced in the beginning of the 2030s.

He adds, “For Audi, this development towards electric mobility is more of a marathon than a sprint.”

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