It’s always a real pleasure to have a relaxed exchange with true automobile experts. Dieter Jermann, who has always been involved with mobility, is one of the supremely assured kind. Since 2018 he has been Brand Director Audi at Amag Import AG. For a change, we fielded two generations of journalists: the writer Dörte Welti and her daughter Carla, an automotive content creator. Core theme: e-mobility. But there was more to discuss. Note: they know each other well and are on first-name terms.
Dörte Welti: Dieter, with what arguments would you sell an electric car today to someone from Generation Z, like Carla?
Dieter Jermann: It’s the only drivetrain that truly takes sustainability into account and also meets the standards. I do enjoy testing an Audi RS6, it’s huge fun. But ever since the first e-tron launched in March 2019, my company car has been a fully electric Audi e-tron. I’m thrilled – though I drive 90 per cent of the time in Switzerland. Long trips in southern Europe take more planning; for anyone driving mainly in Switzerland I recommend e-mobility, because the electricity mix here is far more sustainable. Charging a car in the evening and driving with zero CO₂ emissions, rather than transporting and refining fuel from somewhere, from the Far East or wherever – that does the environment considerably more good. And electric cars are very sporty nowadays: the torque is more immediate, which makes for great driving fun.
Dörte Welti: Driving fun with electric cars? I find the emotion a bit lacking …
Dieter Jermann: The emotion is still there, it’s just less obvious. You hear less, but the driving fun is there. What’s exciting, for instance, is exploring the whole business of recuperation.
Carla Welti: I have to agree. With Audi in particular, the game of recuperation works remarkably well – I like setting myself challenges. With other brands it works less well, you’re far more dependent on the charge. Anyone who has never driven electric finds it hard to grasp, because the obvious things are missing: the sound, the smell, the feel of the engine. But there are new emotions instead.
Dörte Welti: I love driving Alpine passes in the electric car. But even without a pass you get a good feeling wherever you can recuperate – it’s a little triumph each time you gain range that way. My son is 22, still drives a combustion car for now, but will surely go fully electric one day. Do you remember your first own car?
Dieter Jermann: I always wanted to drive early and got my licence on the very first day I turned 18. Everyone around me drove a Golf GTI with 100 hp back then. I didn’t want what everyone else had – and so a Fiat Ritmo 105 became my first car, because it had 105 hp and sounded good.
Dörte Welti: Did your first car awaken your passion for the industry?
Dieter Jermann: It was always there. I started out in the bicycle and motorcycle business in French-speaking Switzerland, because I wanted to learn French. At the market leader Villiger I was on the management board and had achieved everything possible in that field. Then Pirelli was looking for a marketing head for Switzerland – the international dimension appealed to me, a step towards cars. Later I ran Switzerland, then Central Europe: ten markets, seven currencies, many languages and cultures. After seven years I wanted something new; Pirelli offered me Europe, but that would have meant moving to Milan, and I didn’t want to leave Switzerland. Then Amag got in touch – for Audi, which fit perfectly, as I’d driven Audi for 18 years. The right offer at the right time. I believe that if you set yourself goals in your subconscious, you reach them too.
Carla Welti: Was the move to Audi straightforward, then?
Dieter Jermann: At first it was intense and challenging. You could only order some of the models, others not, because they weren’t homologated – a real, rolling crisis, and the brand was quite damaged. We developed a strategy and strengthened the team. By the third year the successes came; today, after five years, we hold a leading position among the premium makers. It shows that with excellent cars, good management and a passionate team you can achieve an enormous amount.
Dörte Welti: Does motorsport help build the brand?
Dieter Jermann: Formula 1 is the ideal platform for Audi to prove progress through technology. The new regulations from 2026, with a greater focus on sustainability and electrification, are one of the main reasons for our entry into the premier class. Interest in F1 spans the globe – in 2021 there were over 1.5 billion TV viewers; the reach of a season is comparable to the Olympics and the football World Cup. I believe the Formula 1 of 2026 will blow away anything we can imagine.
Carla Welti: Young people above all are reached in a completely different way, already through the Netflix series «Drive to Survive». Completely different.
Dieter Jermann: Completely. Besides the classic media, F1 is present above all on social media, where you reach young audiences. The advertising value is extraordinarily high.
Carla Welti: But in Formula E you haven’t been represented for a long time, and in motorsport you’re mainly in the combustion world – and the new Formula 1 too remains a form of driving with a combustion engine. Why does Audi stay so emphatically on the battery in its communication to end customers, if you’re not actively involved with electric motors on the sporting side?
Dieter Jermann: Audi AG backs technological openness, but has made a clear decision: in 2033 we exit the combustion engine, because the battery-electric vehicle is the most efficient method for personal mobility. The plan is to keep producing combustion engines until 2032; from 2026 we’ll introduce no new combustion models, and by 2032 the programmes will run out. In our communication we have, from day one, consistently backed e-mobility.
Dörte Welti: Back to your personal mobility. You enjoy driving an RS now and then – usually when? Heading off for the weekend, surfing, sailing, skiing?
Dieter Jermann: Driving an RS works electrically too. I love driving our electric spearhead, the Audi RS e-tron GT – the torque and power are immediately there, with no delay. At weekends, whenever possible, I’m active: in winter a great deal of skiing with my wife, in summer we love to bike.
Dörte Welti: On the new Audi bike? And is that your Q8 e-tron outside, with the bike rack?
Dieter Jermann: Of course. The bike has only been out since early summer; honestly, I haven’t tried it yet, but I will. It’s an electric mountain bike, inspired by the Audi RS Q e-tron. Many carmakers are launching bikes now – the technology is trendy, the design appealing, and it’s a good complement to an active life.
Dörte Welti: What does the near future look like for Audi?
Dieter Jermann: We’re completely replacing most combustion models – 20 new models by the end of 2025. Next comes the Audi Q6 e-tron, designed from the inside out, with a curved display and even a screen for the passenger side, over 600 kilometres of range and up to 270 kW charging thanks to 800-volt technology. In 2026 comes Formula 1 – more big emotions again.
Carla Welti: How do you see the charging infrastructure?
Dieter Jermann: The Amag Group has acquired Helion, the clear market leader in photovoltaics. Soon we won’t just sell a car but also offer, on request, the home charging station – with photovoltaics or a buffer battery. With this energy cycle we are unique. The day after tomorrow, parking spaces will charge inductively. We live in extremely exciting times. «Future is an attitude» – that’s our credo. Now I’ll ask you: what do you both fundamentally think of electric cars?
Dörte Welti: Privately I have a Volvo XC40 Recharge; the roughly 40 kilometres of electric range are usually enough for everyday use. On long trips I’m glad not to have to hunt for charging stations. Fully electric – I’m not ready for that yet.
Carla Welti: From April to October it’s peak motorsport season, and since Switzerland has no top-level circuit races, I have to go abroad for my work – there the charging question is still a strain. In Switzerland it’s relaxed: I have my own wallbox at home and there’s high-speed charging everywhere. But it also depends on the model.
Dörte Welti: You’ve just come from a dealer conference. What’s the mood among dealers regarding used electric cars?
Dieter Jermann: For dealers it’s a big transformation – three at once, really. First, electrification, from combustion to electric. Second, the sales model: today the manufacturer sells the cars to us as importer, we sell to the dealer, the dealer to the customer – that will change. And third, the consumption behaviour of the young: perhaps they no longer want to own a car at all, only a mobility service, leasing or a car for a year. For a hundred years everything ran much the same way; now three transformations are happening at once within five years – a huge challenge for the whole industry.
This article appeared in MEN issue 2/23 (November 2023).
