Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 126

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But, all in all, the industry is in the throes of radical
transformation.
Otte: Absolutely. The automotive industry encapsulates all
the problems and opportunities that are part and parcel of
modern business life. On the one hand, it is a mature in-
dustry making an indisputable bulk commodity that domi-
nates our economic life, but with little room for market
growth because, at some point, people simply don’t have
space for yet another car in their garage. On the other
hand, it has a long way to go in terms of sustainability:
Energy efficiency and this very idea of sustainability are the
two major growth areas that will give fresh impetus even
to this mature industry.
Although sustainability has been strongly overshadowed
by the financial crisis in recent months, it has actually
been the industry’s defining issue with regard to its struc-
ture. To what extent can energy efficiency provide a solu-
tion to the current situation, Mr. Strotbek?
Strotbek: I think it offers huge opportunities because the
ideas we currently have in the pipeline focus very specifi-
cally on the type of structural change Professor Otte has
just described. It is one of our greatest strengths that we
have continued to invest and step up the pace in this area –
ensuring that tomorrow and in the future we will continue
to bring products to market that convince through “Vor-
sprung durch Technik.”
So does that put you in the role of hunter or hunted? The
impression in recent years has often been that European
manufacturers as a whole have not exactly been taking the
leading role.
Strotbek: Speaking for Audi, I think it is fair to say that
after a 13th successive record-breaking year, our brand is in
the “hunted” role. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch,
and the challenge we now face is using convincing tech-
nologies to build on this position. The question we are cur-
rently addressing is therefore where to place our priorities,
and where to rein in capital investment and costs. I am very
confident that we will find the right answers and pull through
the crisis with future-proof products and technologies.
Can investing actively and being highly entrepreneurial
during the current crisis have a particularly positive effect,
Mr. Otte?
Otte: It has to! Entrepreneurial activity is of fundamental
importance to the economy’s development. In mature in-
dustries, in particular, you often find that one company
copies another; in other words, if one player does some-
thing, the others follow suit. And this can hamper innova-
tive solutions. However, when Mr. Strotbek talks about
having to choose between cutting costs and investing when
setting priorities, he is referring to key business decisions.
You simply can’t do everything all at once, otherwise you
just get bogged down. That’s why a company can provide
impetus by establishing a trend in a particular direction.
When I take a look at the Audi Group’s 10-year figures and
see a doubling of vehicle sales along with over 60 percent
growth for the core brand, then I can see it has succeeded
in doing this. And, of course, that also creates very ambi-
tious targets for the future.
Mr. Otte, you saw the crash coming – are you also able to
predict when we will come out the other side?
Otte: It would be nice if I could. But it is easier to recog-
nize that a bridge is going to collapse under an excessive
load than to know when reconstruction will be finished.
I think we are going to experience a sharp recession first.
I can’t yet exclude the possibility of a really bad ending,
but I hope that the danger has been averted thanks to the
rescue measures that governments have taken. Amid the
crisis, I must say I am very pleased with the way politicians
have responded to the need for firefighting measures.
This certainly couldn’t be taken for granted. We will have
to wait and see whether better regulation will now follow.
So ultimately, you hope we will learn from our mistakes?
Otte: Of course. I think we’ll see a return to the old princi-
ples of the reputable merchant who assesses his risks real-
istically and doesn’t get involved in things he doesn’t un-
derstand. If we manage to lay down some simple, clear
rules for the banks and are generally able to behave more
responsibly, we’ll have moved forward.
“2009 is going to be an extremely
hard year, but I’m very confident
that, thanks to our youthful model
range, we’ll fare much better than
markets as a whole.”
Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management for
Finance and Organization, AUDI AG
MOVING DISCUSSION
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The business journalist Olaf Wittrock works for Frankfurter All-
gemeine Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland and Handelsblatt,
among others.