Audi Crowned Year’s Most Improved Brand

The trade magazine “Automobilwoche” has honored Audi as the year’s most improved brand; at the same time, the DEKRA testing company has rated the Audi A6 as the “Most Reliable of All Classes”: just two highlights in a long list of honors for the Audi brand in 2008.

This year the brand with the four rings not only delivered an impressive domestic performance with 35 awards but proved its excellence in the international arena as well with 56 prizes.

The Audi R8, the A5 and the A4 are the Audi models that won the most awards. Immediately after its debut, the Audi A4 was chosen as “Europe’s Auto1″ by “Autobild” readers from 26 countries. At the New York International Auto Show, the Audi R8 for the first time received two “World Car of the Year Awards” – for Performance and Design.

An early highlight in the year among the 35 domestic awards was the quadruple win (A3, A4, A6, R8) among the readership of the trade magazine “auto motor und sport”.

In addition to the familiar stars of the brand, a newcomer to the Audi family attracted attention particularly toward year’s end – the Audi Q5. Even before its market launch on November 14 it captured two design awards and the coveted “Golden Steering Wheel” in the SUV category. These were followed by three additional prizes, including the “Euro Car Body Award” by an international panel of experts.

Audi owes the success of its vehicles both to its recent range of models and to their especially appealing design. In “Automobilwoche”, the manufacturer with the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik” is credited by automobile analyst Jürgen Pieper not only with improved quality and technology but even with design leadership in this industry. Audi Design Chief Stefan Sielaff agrees: “Presently we not only have the newest range of models, but also the most beautiful.” This has a very favorable effect on the brand image: In the comprehensive image report by the trade magazine “Auto Zeitung”, Audi won the overall top honors in 2008 for the fifth time in a row.

AUDI AG sold a total of 964,151 cars in 2007 and thus achieved its twelfth consecutive record year. With revenue of € 33,617 million and profit before tax of € 2,915 million, the company attained its best figures ever. Audi produces vehicles in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm (Germany), Györ (Hungary), Changchun (China) and Brussels (Belgium). At the end of 2007, production of the Audi A6 started in Aurangabad, India. The company is active in more than 100 markets worldwide. AUDI AG’s wholly owned subsidiaries include Automobili Lamborghini Holding S.p.A. in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, and quattro GmbH in Neckarsulm. Audi employs about 57,000 people worldwide, including 45,000 in Germany. The brand with the four rings invests more than € 2 billion each year in order to sustain the company’s technological lead embodied in its “Vorsprung durch Technik” slogan. Audi plans to significantly increase the number of models in its portfolio by 2015 to 40.