Audi quits Le Mans to concentrate on electric car racing

Audi will end its participation in the prominent Le Mans sports car race next year after nearly 2 decades to concentrate on racing electrical automobiles, representing a shift in technique as parent business Volkswagen fights to recuperate from an emissions scandal.

Audi, which is looking to improve the share of zero-emission automobiles to a minimum of a quarter of its international sales by 2025, stated it will begin contending next year in the Formula E electric-car racing championship.

“We will perform the race for the future electronically,” CEO Rupert Stadler informed employees at Audi’s sports cars department on Wednesday, as per a declaration from the business, pointing out the greatest change in the brand’s history.

“As our production vehicles are ending up being progressively electrical, our motorsport vehicles, as Audi’s technological spearheads, have to much more so,” the CEO stated.

As it faces the expenses of the emissions scandal, the German automaker is cutting investing to finance its shift to electrical vehicles and self-driving.

Audi rejected a report in Germany’s Handelsblatt paper that cost savings from taking out of Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) would total up to a yearly 300 million euros ($327.30 million). A source at Audi stated the relocation would save Audi almost 100 million euros annually.