The Future Of Audi Is Electric

A seventeen year veteran at Audi, Markus Schuster recently took over the position of Managing Director Audi Singapore at a complex time in the German carmaker’s history as the automaker starts the electrification of its passenger vehicle range. We spoke to Markus during the Singapore Motorshow at the launch of the Audi e-tron - and in fact this interview was conducted while we were seating in the front seats of the e-tron!

- Shawn Chung

Markus Schuster: Let me introduce myself. My name is Markus Schuster, and I’m the new MD of Audi Singapore been here in Singapore for the last six months.

NXT: How do you find the difference between Singapore and Germany? Do you find the COE system in Singapore to be overly complicated?

Actually once you have an understanding of how the system works it is not over complicated. I think the sheer size difference of the German and Singapore markets makes things very different but the smaller size also has some very significant advantages. If you think of the contact that we have with our customers, it’s just great to be in a smaller market because we have a one-on-one relationship with our customers and that gives us always the opportunity to talk to them directly, to get their feedback directly on the products and everything we do and to relay that back to headquarters to improve our products.

Do you think that customer relationship plays quite a big role in Audi maintaining its top position in the Singapore market?