AS AUDI invests in electrification and technological advances, meet Anna Chudley – its first electrification and connected car manager.

Anna has spent the last three years as product manager for the Q3 and Q7 – the latter which is now launching – having previously been in SEAT and Volkswagen aftersales roles.

The new role is to plan for the future: at the moment Audi has just the A3 e-tron PHEV and the Q7 e-tron PHEV but from 2018 there will be one plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for every Audi model range going forward, while also in 2018 Audi will launch its first fully electric vehicle.

“Every part of the business needs to get ready for the future,” explains Anna. “So in my role there are two elements.

“The first is strategic support for our two electric models already on sales and then working with Audi AG on future products. The business needs a programme coordinator and strategic planner to make sure everyone is ready.

“We’re currently based around products that are filled up at fuel stations; but in the future they will be charged at home and then topped up during the driving day when necessary.

“So are the dealers ready for this? Are the communications in place to support our new electric products? The challenge is looking at the future and while you can make some assumptions about the future, you don’t know for sure what will happen.”

Anna says on her wish list is a better charging infrastructure, although she believes new model roll out will drive infrastructure development.

The second part of Anna’s role is the connected car.

“The majority of Audi models have Audi Connect fitted now – so they have features such as news feeds, texts that can be read out, Google street view and data roamingso on. Connecting cars with the internet is very much part of the future and I shall be the coordinator between Audi UK and Audi AG.”

Anna reports to Katie Purcell in the operations area but sits in the product marketing area at Audi’s Milton Keynes HQ.