We know that Audi, along with BMW, is convinced that the luxury car market must include high-performance battery-electric vehicles.

And we know that VW Group's luxury brand will launch a sporty and all-electric crossover utility vehicle, to be called simply the Audi e-tron, for 2018.

What we hadn't known until now was that the 2018 Audi e-tron would be followed in very short order by two more electric models.

DON'T MISS: What Audi says it learned from 4 years of electric-car testing

As reported by Reuters, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told German newspaper Heilbronner Stimme that the company would have three electric cars in its range by 2020.

Plug-in vehicles would account for 25 to 30 percent of Audi's sales by 2025, he added.

That's a slight increase in the goal of 25 percent by 2025 that Audi announced last fall at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Audi e-tron Quattro concept - 2016 Consumer Electronics Show

Audi e-tron Quattro concept - 2016 Consumer Electronics Show

The lineup of all-electric cars will include a small city car, in what Europeans call the A-segment, Stadler told Audi managers during presentation of a strategic plan for the brand.

All members of the Volkswagen Group have rethought their product and powertrain plans following the VW diesel scandal that erupted into public view last September and has since spread across the globe.

ALSO SEE: One-Quarter Of All Audis To Be Electric In 10 Years, Company Says (Nov 2015)

Audi had planned its e-tron launch before the diesel scandal broke, and has been relatively unscathed by the scandal even though it used some of the same diesel engines as the affected Volkswagens.

But it was less well known in the States for its diesel offerings, the first of which arrived less than 10 years ago, and its brand image has remained intact.

2016 Audi A3 e-Tron Sportback, San Francisco Bay Area, Oct 2015

2016 Audi A3 e-Tron Sportback, San Francisco Bay Area, Oct 2015

The company, Stadler said, will focus on simplifying its lineup and reducing model proliferation to free up capital to invest in electrification of its vehicles and development of autonomous-driving capabilities.

It would set up a subsidiary, to be called SDS Company, that will be charged with developing a fully autonomous car, though such a vehicle likely wouldn't arrive for public sale before 2025 at the very earliest.

CHECK OUT: Audi e-Tron Quattro Concept previews 2018 electric car (Sep 2015)

Stadler also told reporters that Audi's development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles was "a must," but expressed caution over potential volumes due to the limited infrastructure in place to fuel them.

A separate Audi executive said on Saturday he didn't expect any production of fuel-cell vehicles before 2020 due to the lack of hydrogen fueling stations.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Audi e-Tron Quattro Concept, first unveiled at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, was long expected to carry the Q6 designation when it launched as a production vehicle in 2018 or later. In October 2016, however, Audi said the production version would be called simply Audi e-tron. We have updated this article accordingly.]

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