Dive Brief:
- Luxury brand Audi has consolidated all of its transformative functions under a new department called “Transformation, Consulting, and Organization” effective March 1, the automaker announced in a press release Feb 27.
- It’s intended to help Audi strengthen its global competitiveness as part of the company’s “Audi Agenda” strategy, which it shared last year at its Analyst Day 2024 event.
- “We are driving forward this realignment of Audi with the Audi Agenda, and in doing so are preparing the company for the future,” said Audi CEO Gernot Döllner in the release.
Dive Insight:
The plans for the new business unit were announced last October. The organizational changes are essential in preparing the company to navigate the auto industry’s shift towards electrification and software-defined vehicles.
The department will focus on innovation, improving profitability and boosting efficiency across divisions of the company. The unit is being led by Yvonne Bettkober, whose 20 years of executive experience includes roles at parent company Volkswagen, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
“With Yvonne Bettkober, we are gaining a manager who is as adept as she is experienced,” said Döllner in the release. “With her background in the international technology and digital industry, she will add valuable perspectives that we need right now in the transformation of Audi.”
Most recently, Bettkober was responsible for global organizational development and transformation initiatives at parent company Volkswagen, including for its software subsidiary CARIAD.
The Audi Agenda business strategy is focused on six core areas — organizational efficiency, expanding the automaker’s battery-electric vehicle portfolio, improving sales, customer service and operating profit, and achieving progress through advanced technology.
Audi aims to flatten its corporate hierarchies and organizational structures, as well as streamline its committees and moving responsibility and decision-making to defined roles within the company, including for the development of new vehicles.
“The current challenges call for quick action and short lines of decision-making,” Bettkober said in the release.
Over 200 experts at Audi have prepared various improvement packages throughout last year related to the efforts, the automaker announced in October. The work included analyzing internal processes and structures, as well as developing and optimizing new collaborative business models. In the future, this effort will include direct access to all business-relevant topics, providing greater scope for decision-making, according to Audi.
“The past few months have shown that the automotive industry is facing major challenges,” Döllner said of the initiative announced last fall. “Vehicle development is therefore only the first step. We must and will make Audi more efficient, more competitive, and more resilient for the future.”
The development guidelines spearheaded by Audi’s newly formed Transformation, Consulting and Organization unit will eventually be applied across all corporate divisions, and form the basis for reorganizing other areas of the company, according to the release.
As part of its Audi Agenda strategic growth plan, the automaker plans to offer a fully electric premium vehicle in all of its core segments by 2027. These vehicles will be fully connected and equipped with advanced digital features focused on the passenger experience.
