Volkswagen’s flagship Audi division is to increase spending on new models, plants and technology through 2019 to push its goal of surpassing German rival BMW as the world’s largest luxury-car manufacturer, Reuters said. Audi, which contributes 40% of operating profit at Europe’s biggest automotive group, said on Saturday it will push up investment in car-making operations by 2b euros ($2.44b) to a record 24b euros over the next five years. Seventy percent of spending will be assigned to developing new models and technologies such as emission-cutting plug-in hybrid vehicles, Audi said. The brand is also working on purely electric cars to catch up with BMW and Tesla Motors.
