The German premium automaker announced today a new plan to invest €13 billion, mainly in new products and technologies and in expanding its sites by 2016, while the company will also recruit some 1,200 specialists in 2012 in addition to 3,500 new employees it hired throughout 2011.
“We are aiming to achieve strong growth on an international scale and boost our lightweight construction and electric mobility areas of expertise in particular," said Thomas Sigi, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources at AUDI AG. "That is why we will be hiring even more people and are planning to appoint a further 1,200 experts next year.”
Audi said that in order to cover its needs for skilled employees over the next few years, the brand and the employees’ elected representatives agreed to offer permanent employment contracts to trainees, students from vocational training academies and participants of the StEP program (Study and Experience in Practice) once they complete their courses.
The carmaker's planned investment of €13 billion (US$17 billion) from 2012 through 2016 is the biggest investment program in Audi's history.
“To maintain our profitable growth, we will step up investment spending on new products,” said Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management for Finance and Organization at Audi AG. “The Audi Group plans to invest over € 2 billion annually in new products and technologies.”
Audi said that more than €10.5 billion (US$13.7 billion) would be spent on the development of new models and on technologies of the future such as electric or hybrid drive.
The company also confirmed three new production models for 2012, including the A8 hybrid that employs a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine, the next generation of A3, the 2013 A6 allroad quattro as well as the pure-electric R8 e-tron that will be built in a small series.
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