Speaking at the Audi Annual Press Conference, held at the company’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Rupert Stadler, chairman of the Board of Management said the investment would support “the mobility of tomorrow, and we will push forward with the electrification and digitisation of our products”.

Plans for the coming year will see more than 20 new or revised models launched, including the 429bhp SQ7 SUV revealed at the event and the new Q2 unveiled at Geneva this week. Audi also said that its three milestones for its Audi 2025 plans are digitisation, sustainability and urbanisation.

In particular, its roadmap for electric mobility will see its first fully electric large-series car go into production in 2018 at its Brussels plant, which will be the pioneer for electric mobility and will also produce the batteries. It will turn to partners LG Chem and Samsung SDI for the battery cells.

Stadler said: “And we are also thinking about electric mobility in high-volume terms. Electric mobility requires an effective charging infrastructure: at least 150 kilowatts, or better 350 kilowatts – for fast charging along the autobahns. We need a global rapid-charging network and hydrogen filling stations.”

The carmaker said that it views hybrids and plug-in hybrids as a bridge technology for about the next 10 years. In parallel, it will offer various battery-electric models in different volume series until 2025.

He added: “We also see great potential in fuel-cell technology. Our Audi h-tron quattro concept study operates solely on electric power, and with hydrogen as an energy source – hence the name h-tron. The hydrogen tanks can be filled in about four minutes, with enough energy for a range of 600 kilometers. Audi will have competence-center responsibility within the Volkswagen Group, and will bring this technology out of research into series development in the coming years.”

The third milestone of Audi’s roadmap to 2025 is urbanisation. The brand said its mobility offering will be based on an app that will allow Audi customers to deliver the desired car to the desired place at any time by pushing a button.

And its urban development projects will take in assistance systems for the city, to mobility concepts for flexible use, and to the application of intelligent algorithms for data analysis.