The crisis caused by the shortage of microchips and semiconductors does not stop Audi’s growth ambitions in Italy. Word of Fabrizio Longo, director of Audi Italia, who analyzed the 2021 that has just ended for the car manufacturer with the four rings, providing his first forecasts in view of 2022 which instead opened its doors a few weeks ago. “It was a critical year for several reasons including the microchip crisis“, Longo began, suggesting that business has not gone so well for the German brand.
In fact, the general manager of Audi’s Italian division positively analyzes the company’s last twelve months of activity: “We closed with + 12% of registrations, a result higher than our expectations, given that the second half went slower than the first. The electric deserves a separate mention, because if in 2020 we had sold just under two hundred cars, last year we totaled almost 2,500 orders ”. Speaking of the electric, to the microphones of La Stampa Longo exalts without ifs and buts the importance of a model like the Q4 e-tron, the battery-powered SUV that has been very successful on the market: “It has three winning features: the internal volume, the ease of the charging process thanks also to the e-tron Charging Service which has 290,000 charging stations in Europe and 19,000 in Italy, and the ecosystem created around the customer with the rental. It was highly appreciated by both individuals and companies ”.
Of course, in terms of electricity, the Italian market is still forced to chase, and Longo is one of the many who openly sided in favor of incentives: “The Italian market is increasingly familiar with the electric and having a system of incentives similar to the one in other European countries could accelerate the spread of electric cars. As for the Q4 e-tron, the incentives did their part to attract customers, but the winning weapon was the commercial offer made on the rental, which was worth 70% of sales ”. In conclusion, in view of 2022, the unknowns are many according to the general manager of Audi Italia, and the German brand will suffer: “The microchip crisis it will last for the whole year and, despite the countermeasures, we will have a reduced production capacity. We started 2022 with a number of back orders that are worth 6 months of production, so we do everything we can to minimize customer problems and be transparent about waiting times “.
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