According to Aparicio, there is space below Bentley in the Volkswagen Group family for Audi to slide upwards in perception without encroaching on its luxury sibling.
“Luxury is covered by Bentley and Porsche, and in the premium market there are many segments and many ways of bringing a proposition to a customer,” he said. “It’s not a fundamental change, it’s an evolution and has to be followed by adjustments to the customer experience; it’s something we have to do with our retail partners.”
The shift to EVs has given brands a fresh chance to change how they are viewed by customers, which is an opportunity and a threat, according to Audi’s UK boss.
“A new era is starting and the rules are changing, so we cannot assume that those ones that were premium in the past will also be the winners for the future – we have to earn that status,” he said. “It’s important to ensure that we have the value in the product range, that we have the customer experience that really grants us this premiumness for the future in an EV battery-electric-vehicle world.”
That opens the door to the Grandsphere and Urbansphere becoming a reality, although it will be towards the end of the decade before they have a chance of hitting UK roads.
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