When the world’s second-biggest seller of premium cars starts talking about
investing billions of Euros in new
equipment, workers and technology, you better believe a major shakeup is on its way. Audi has
reported it plans on investing €13 billion (R139 billion) over the next four years in expanding plant presence around the world – especially the
booming China market – employing new people, researching and developing new technologies.
As Audi puts it, “we will be hiring even more people and are planning to appoint a further 1 200
experts next year [in 2012]”. Many of these will be graduates who are already
working for the company in internship and trainee
programmes.
The €13 billion is Audi’s biggest single investment
commitment in the company’s history
and represents a deep seriousness in
becoming the number one premium
automaker in the world by 2016. About €2 billion (R21 billion) will be spent
every year on new products and technologies. That’s more or less what Hyundai/ Kia spends on its R&D every year, which is one of the
main reasons they are on such a meteoric
rise.
From a 2012 product launch point of view, this money will
help deliver cars like the all-new A3 hatch and sedan, R8 e-tron, A4 facelift and others.
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