Stephan Winkelmann is Mr RS & R8 at Audi. With new strategic priorities. 

After a stint as CEO of Lamborghini from 2005 to 2016, Stephan Winkelmann has taken over the leadership of Quattro Gmbh, the performance motorsport division of Audi. We sat down with him to discuss his strategic priorities for the evolution of the performance arm of Audi.

Q: You have been in your new position for about a year now ?

A: It will be 7 months on the 15th October. It has been short. We have a lot to do. We are working on all the things which are normal business, all the operational stuff which never stops, and then on the other hand, I needed to get up to speed on what is different from my previous job. And we are working hard on the strategy. Strategy is all that matters at the end of the day if you want to bring the company to a new start.

Q: What are your priorities for Quattro Gmbh ?

A: We are going to change the name of the Quattro company into Audi Sport. The main reason is motorsport in whatever we do. The rally successes, all the races in the last decade, they all underline our DNA. On the other hand, we already have the red rombus, Audi Sport, there is a perfect fit with the R8 and RS models. There is a recognizability in what we are going to do. This is just the headline. It is important to give a signal that things are changing.

Q: So you want to make a statement that there is an inflection point ?

A: Yes. We have to look at what we want as an image, what the company is standing for, and how this is matching with our idea of the products we have today and for the future. For me, it is clear  that on the product side, we have two or three challenges.

How is the product portfolio going to be in the future, what type of cars. Are we going to reduce our efforts, are we going for volume or prestige ? And our answer is that we are going for exclusiveness of the cars. So it is not so much about how many models we are going to have, not so much how much sales, but more how we position the brand and the cars as prestige objects which also have a lighthouse function for the entire Audi AG and for the Audi brand.

Then we have to confirm and look what is the key idea behind an RS or an R8 model. The core value of the product, the balance between performance and daily usability. These two things. The car that you are testing today (NDR the Audi R8 Spyder) is at one extreme, but on the other extreme, you have the RS6 Avant for example. It is about performance, design, comfort and quality.

We have to continue to do what we do best, such as the high revs engines. We have to look into the segments which are the most prestigious ones. We have to go into a new horizon in terms of sustainability, and sustainability has to be linked with sportiness.

Q: You articulate clear problem statements: the balance between performance and usability, prestige and exclusivity, is your mind already made up as to what where you are going to steer Audi Sport ?

A: It is hard to draw a straight line. There will be a lot of detours and hick-ups along the way, but we know where we want to go. It is a big company which is part of a big group, so all the things have to be realizable, they have to realistic in terms of profit and loss, but we have  a major direction we are looking into. If you want to have lighthouse product, it is not important that you see it at every street corner, but when you see it, you have to have a wow effect. It is going to be a muse in the best case, when you see the car, it is what you would like to have. It has a cascading effect on all of the other cars of Audi AG.