Audi Sport Makes Formula E Transition Official with New Video

Over the past 18 years, Audi Sport has managed to bag 13 wins at the world's most famous 24-hours event, offering a few memorable contests in the Le Mans Prototype class with other cars made by Toyota, Peugeot or, more recently, their own stablemates at Porsche.

Its presence there was also useful for promoting the brand's turbo diesel engines, the now infamous TDI units that powered so many of the cars sold by Audi's parent company, the Volkswagen Group. The Germans proved that diesel engines aren't good strictly for fuel economy, but they can offer race-grade performance levels as well.

In later years, Audi used the same strategy for its hybrid powertrains with the R18 e-tron quattro model, but now, the priorities are changing. Volkswagen has vowed to reshape its lineup and launch 30 new EV models by 2025. That's also the year the German manufacturer wants to become the world leader in EV sales, a position it says it'll have to steal from Tesla.

Like before, the Volkswagen Group will use its Audi Sport outlet to promote a certain type of powertrain and help the team with its development. And at the moment, there is no better place to do that than in the all-electric Formula One lookalike that is the Formula E.

Already in its third season, the FIA competition has already gathered quite a following, and things can only get all the more interesting as cars become faster and the teams are allowed more interventions on their vehicles' powertrains.

The 2016-2017 season is already underway, so Audi Sport is sitting this one out, but it's ready to join the championship next term with a fully factory backed team. There aren't too many details available, but a new clip released by Audi Sport announces the switch that has left quite a few fans disgruntled, but has gained the brand a few new ones.