Audi shows off its design chops at Miami exhibit
‘Influential’ crowd suited to high-end vehicles
MIAMI — The old saying “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” can also be applied to the innovative marketing methods automakers are using to sell their new cars. Take for example what Germany’s Audi is doing here in sunny, South Florida to promote its 2014 R8 supercar.
Unlike jostling for media attention at one of the many international auto shows that take place around the world, Audi has, since 2006, been the official automotive sponsor of the Design Miami exhibition, an intimate event that collects influential art collectors, gallery owners, designers, curators and critics from all over the globe in one spot.
The event doesn’t attract the typical “gas-in-the-veins” car junkies or tire-kicking new car buyers you’d usually find at a typical auto show. But it does bring awareness to Audi’s commitment to good design as a pillar of its product development to a non-automotive crowd.
“Audi has always been at the forefront of car design, and an event like this illustrates that to a very influential group of people,” Audi Canada’s Curt Nielsen said.
Audi is not playing the traditional role of show sponsor at Design Miami, which ran from Dec. 3 to 9. This year, the automaker is also appearing as an exhibitor and as a “source of inspiration that seeks creative dialogue.”
To that end, Audi created an allnew display booth, highlighted by a large sculpture dubbed “Fragmentation” (a three-dimensional installation that plays on the red rhombus, the symbol of Audi Sport) as a backdrop to a pair of Audi R8s on stage: a 2014 R8 V10 Spyder and a customer sport program R8 LMS race car that will be on the grid of the inaugural United SportsCar Championship at Daytona, Fla., on Jan. 25.
The linking of technology and design to market its vehicles is not something new for Audi. In the past, the automaker has developed installations with international designers and architects such as Moritz Waldemeyer, Mirko Borsche, Bjarke Ingels, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram.
And the non-automotive attendees and media found at an event like Design Miami are similar to the demographic that would consider a high-end vehicle, such as the recently updated Audi R8 mid-engine supercar.
Inspired by the 2003 Le Mans show car, the first production R8 went on sale two years later. Since then, the Audi supercar has gone on to become the face of the brand’s 21stcentury design resurgence. And as a mid-engine two-seater with allwheel drive, the Audi R8 has also become one of the most accessible supercars you can buy.
The second arrow in Audi’s Design Miami marketing quiver is to promote its customer race-car program, launched in 2009. Audi racecar customer teams have won titles in Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Sweden, as well as in the FIA GT Series and the GT Sprint International Series. At the beginning of the 2013 season, the 100th customer race car based on the Audi R8 was delivered. And in the VLN Endurance Championship on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the Audi R8 LMS that took four overall victories was the most successful car of the 2013 race season.
For the upcoming 2014 United SportsCar Championship season, Audi’s first customer team, Flying Lizard Motorsports from California, will be running a pair of R8 LMS cars for the new U.S. sports car series.
“We’re delighted that such a renowned team has opted for the Audi R8 LMS,” said Romolo Liebchen, head of Audi Sport customer racing.
The 12-event United SportsCar Championship schedule includes such classic American endurance race venues as Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta, as well as the lone Canadian race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ont., east of Toronto, on July 13.
The Audi R8 LMS will compete in the production-based GT Daytona (or GTD) class. (The automaker says the GTD version of the Audi R8 LMS differs from the Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3 race car in details only.)
Audi also says one of the key advantages of the R8 LMS race car will be its service-friendly and cost-efficient nature. Customer race teams only have to perform maintenance on the R8 LMS’s V10 at 20,000-kilometre intervals.
Besides sharing the stage at De- sign Miami, the link between the Audi R8 street car and Audi R8 LMS race car are quite tangible. Audi says more than 50 per cent of both cars is made up of shared parts.
And by taking such a non-traditional approach to the selling and marketing of its vehicles, the Ger- man automaker is hoping the Design Miami crowd sees the link between good design and Audi’s products.