INTERVIEW
E-tron leads the way as Audi heads into a ‘premium mobility’ future
Mark Smyth spoke with Audi’s head of strategy, technical development, Thomas Kamla, on the the brand’s move to electrification
Planning five years ahead in the auto industry at the moment is no easy task, especially if you are the head of strategy technical development at Audi, but that is exactly what Thomas Kamla has to do. He does so at a time when Audi has been through multiple directors of technical development in six years and as I arrived in San Francisco recently for the reveal of the new Audi E-tron, I was informed that its then technical director, Peter Mertens, was unwell and would not be available for interviews. A few days later he was out, replaced by the sixth technical development director in as many years. Tough gig, although perhaps languishing in prison without charge over Dieselgate is a little tougher for former CEO Rupert Stadler. Kamla says his role is to find a "sustainable strategy for the next five years", something that will entail moving Audi from being a premium car maker to being a "premium mobility" company. Kamla takes it another step further though to say that Audi will beco...
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