Last week Audi (IW 1000/69) announced that it is maintaining an “ambitious capital-expenditure program.”
“The expansion of our global manufacturing infrastructure will help us to continue growing,” says CFO Alex Strotbek.
"Audi wants to sell more than two million vehicles annually by 2020 to become the perennial number one premium brand in the world," Strotek added. "To this end, Audi hopes that its innovations will attract customers everywhere to the brand."
The Audi Group plans on investing €13 billion (US$16.5 billion) through 2016. Expenditures will primarily address the development of new products and technologies as well as the construction of new plants. Strotbek said the group wants to spend more than €2 billion every year on new products and technologies.
In addition to modernizing and expanding the company’s products it will finance “core areas of expertise” such as lightweight design/construction and electric mobility.
Nearly €8 billion will be invested in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, sites located in Germany.
In addition, expansion of the site in Győr, Hungary will be completed in 2013, where the company is building a body-manufacturing shop, a paint shop and a press shop.
Audi is expanding capacities in China, with cars rolling off the assembly line in Foshan, China in early 2014.
And a plant in San José Chiapa, Mexico is scheduled to start producing Audis by 2016.
