Audi observes potential for only one diesel model in U.S.

Luxury German automobile brand Audi visualizes the potential of just one diesel model in its U.S. product mix following the diesel emissions scandal that has involved its parent business Volkswagen, Audi’s U.S. head said on Wednesday.

“As soon as we ideally get past everything, I see an opportunity for possibly, probably to use it on one model, and that model would probably be the Q7 SUV,” Audi of America President Scott Keogh informed Reuters at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

“It’s the one model that makes the most sense.”

At its height, diesel comprised seven percent of Audi’s U.S. mix, stated Keogh, who included it was constantly “a bridge technology” before emissions standards were to get gradually tighter.

Keogh said the future for Audi was electric, with battery electric automobiles forecasted to make up 25 percent to 30 percent of its mix in by 2025. The brand prepares to release its first electric SUV in 2018.

CEO of Volkswagen of America Hinrich Woebcken informed the AutoMobilityLA vehicle dealers conference on Tuesday that diesel would never ever reach the 25 percent of Volkswagen sales it had enjoyed in the United States.

“Our prediction is that we will not come back with diesel in the exact same magnitude we had previously,” Woebcken stated.