FRANKFURT: Audi AG said on Monday it plans to spend ?7.3 billion (?1 = RM4.93) on plant upgrades, new products and technology research as it moves to expand its business worldwide and increase market share.
Audi, based in Ingolstadt, and a unit of Volkswagen AG, said it plans to spend the amount from 2009 to 2012 and will increase the number of models from its current 34 to a planned 42 by 2015.
Of that, around ?5.9 billion will go toward new products and future technologies, or about 80 per cent of its planned spending.
“With our planned investments in new products and mobility concepts, for example electric propulsion, we are creating a basis for our company’s future growth,” said Axel Strotbek, who oversees finance and organisation at the company.
Investors agreed, pushing Audi shares up nearly 4.2 per cent to ?500 in Frankfurt trading.
The car maker plans to spend heavily at its German plants, parsing out ?3.8 billion to its Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants from this year through 2012. — AP