Audi is bringing numerous Electric Vehicles (EVs) to South Africa but Audi’s Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles will still be available until 2033, according to Audi SA’s Managing Director, Sascha Sauer.

Fans of Audi ICE cars have likely had sleepless nights afterhearing the news that the Ingolstadt-based firm will soon be launching a brave EV offensive in South Africa in 2022.

Earlier this year, Audi launched a whack (15 to be exact) of exciting RS products in South Africa and we have sampled most of them here at Cars.co.za. These vehicles embody what we love about cars, but sadly, they won’t be around forever — not even in South Africa.

In our latest podcast, Ciro De Siena sat down with Audi SA’s Managing Director, Sascha Sauer, to discuss the firm’s EV plans as well as what the impending EV rollout means for Audi’s ICE products in South Africa.

Also see: Is it time for South Africa to Switch to EVs?

ICE Audi Cars in SA Until 2033

The Audi e-tron GT will be in South Africa early in 2022.

Sauer commented, “Given the time frame, Audi and many other manufacturers have committed publicly that they will launch only electric cars going forward from a certain period of time, very soon. It also puts pressure on us as a brand here in the country [South Africa] to transform our business proactively and prepare ourselves for the future because from 2026 onwards, any new car launch will be only electric cars and by 2033 we will stop importing and producing cars into South Africa with a combustion engine.”

Yes, that means that the day will come in 2033/2034 when ICE-powered Audis will no longer be sold in South Africa. What a sad day that will be, but what does it mean for you?

On behalf of all the Audi-loving petrolheads out there, Ciro De Sienna posed the question to Sauer, “South Africans love their performance cars, we’re a big performance market in this country for a lot of brands, the [Audi] RS cars are no different… but what would you say to those South Africans who may be watching this and thinking, my favourite brand is going electric and I’m not going to be able to buy an RS3 tomorrow? You say 2033 but after that will there be support for those cars, parts availability etc?”

Sauer responded with some good news, “Oh yeah, that goes without saying. Of course, we will still have dealers around, trained technicians and produce and deliver and we will ensure that we have spare parts available. I would also like to add that any change is going to happen gradually.”

Furthermore, Sauer added, “Let’s say we launch the last combustion-engine model in 2026, that version [model] will last and be updated regularly until 2033, which means we can probably assume that the last [combustion] cars from our brand [Audi] would probably be sold as late as 2034”.

As for Audi’s local electric car onslaught, you can expect to see no less than 3 new Audi electric models (6 derivatives) launching onto the local market in 2022. These include the e-tron SUV, e-tron Sportback and e-tron GT.

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If you haven’t yet done so, give our latest podcast a watch and a listen below.

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