Audi to End Combustion Car Production in 2033 [UPDATE]

It is now official.

[UPDATE] Audi has announced that all the models it plans to launch in 2026 will be electric. The production of combustion-engined vehicles will end in 2033. However, there is one exception. Audi anticipates that China will continue to demand ICEs in the future. This is why it may produce local gasoline engines after 2033. Audi anticipates that it will reach carbon neutrality in the long-term by 2050.

Reuters reported last week that the end of new Audi models with combustion engine is rapidly approaching. According to the report 2026 will see the Ingolstadt-based automaker unveil its final production vehicle with an ICE. The German newspaper Handelsblatt has published a new article that explains how the Four Rings intend to gradually eliminate gasoline and diesel engines.

The luxury brand already hinted at it A1 supermini won’t get a replacement directly VW Group’s more well-known Polo, Ibiza and Fabia are all competing in the subcompact hatchback market. The latest report claims that Audi bosses announced last week at a meeting with top-tier managers that the next-gen A3,A4,A5, and A6 would all be powered by EVs. For a while, the existing combustion-engined models won’t be affected.

The A7 and A8 are still unknown, but they will likely follow the same timetable as the SUVs. The Q8 is expected to be Audi’s last car with a conventional engine. The company’s largest SUV, the Q8 E-Tron, will arrive in 2026. It will be joined by a fully-electric version of the Q8 E.Tron.

The traditional engine may be completely eliminated by switching to EVs, without retaining the mild-hybrids or plug-in hybrids. The Q6 E-Tron SUV will launch in 2022, while the HTML6 E-Tron concept shows a sleek electric liftback that will debut in 2023.

Audi will soon have 20 electric cars in production by the middle of this decade. Some of these vehicles will be riding on the Premium Platform Electric, which is being developed with Porsche. Although archrivals BMW and Mercedes don’t have such strict cutoff dates for internal combustion engines, they are both working to create an EV insurgency for the coming years, much like Audi.

It’s worth noting that Audi already acknowledged the end to the development and production of combustion engines. However, the company plans to update gasoline and diesel units in order meet increasing emission regulations. Shortly after Audi’s announcement, the VW core brand made a comparable disclosure.