Audi’s route to the Vorsprung of tomorrow
Audi’s slogan is Vorsprung durch
Technik, which means advancement through technology. A few months ago we held the inaugural Audi Summit in Barcelona. It was at this event that the roadmap to our new future as a company was showcased. This included our vision for cars, our company and our social engagement.
We are transforming — from a premium car manufacturer into a premium digital car company. We will, of course, still be selling beautiful cars, but we will also offer services and solutions that go beyond the car.
The change brought about by the ever-growing digital world is fundamentally altering competition in the car industry. And with it comes a huge opportunity for Audi to inspire people with Vorsprung and the best technologies.
Marking a milestone on the road to becoming a sustainable premium digital car company is the launch of Audi’s new flagship. The Audi A8 pushes the benchmarks for design, sportiness, comfort and operation.
The new Audi A8 made its public premiere a few weeks ago at the Frankfurt auto show. It is the first production automobile to permit conditional automated driving on public roads. For the first time, drivers will be able to completely turn over the task of driving in certain situations. This step is a technological revolution. Audi also presented two concept cars — the Audi Elaine and Aicon — in Frankfurt that showed how the brand intends to further develop autonomous driving in the future.
With the digital revolution comes a changed set of values. Audi is working toward seamlessly integrating its customers’ modern lifestyle, creating for them a personal space in a sustainable world. In a digital, sustainable and urban world the customer is centre stage.
We have launched the biggest transformation in our corporate history. The brand is becoming digital throughout as we redefine urban mobility. As a company, we need to be disruptive in our way of thinking. If we do not, there’s a risk of being left behind by the competition — not least by those who have only recently emerged onto the mobility market with new approaches, services and ideas.
At Audi we are extremely inspired by this challenge. It reflects the very essence of the company and its employees. Vorsprung is in our DNA — it describes the approach that the company has always taken. An approach that Audi will continue to pursue in order to ensure customers are offered solutions that improve their daily life.
Today, when you see the Four Rings, you think of TFSI, quattro and lightweight construction. In the future, something else will come to your mind! Because Audi will be more than amazing cars.
You will be thinking of myAudi, Audi e-tron, and Audi AI.
The myAudi app will become our central platform. The ecosystem that connects your car to its environment and you with your Audi. It will be the basis for many additional services to come, such as functions on demand. This will enable you to activate additional features in your Audi, whenever you want or need them. Further, the service can be used for Audi on demand — our premium mobility offering.
Audi e-tron stands for our clear vision of emission-free mobility with plug-in hybrid and fully-electric cars. Offerings that perfectly combine sustainability, sportiness and everyday practicality — without any compromises.
And finally: Audi AI. This term stands for intelligent and even self-learning assistance systems and piloted driving functions. It enables us to redefine personal mobility in many ways. And this will give our customers more time, which we call the 25th hour.
Like a startup company, Audi is moving quickly and unconventionally into new business areas, introducing new methods of production and changing mobility. At Audi, Vorsprung is always associated with the desire to never be content with the status quo, but instead to question it in order to find better solutions. Because for Audi, Vorsprung means much more than being a pioneer — Vorsprung embodies the aspiration to give customers of the brand more freedom.
With this strategy in mind there are three clear focal points: always be digital, sustainable and urban.
The new digital era is here. The internet gives us immediate access to billions of items of data. Intelligent algorithms, self-learning machines and artificial intelligence are themselves able to evaluate Big Data, and open up a new dimension of added value for the customer.
Virtual reality tools will enable customers to configure their dream car interactively. Under the motto “An Audi when I want and where I want,” Audi plans to enhance the concept of individual mobility with premium on-demand solutions, to be rolled out in 15 markets by 2020. A new digital platform will provide Audi drivers and passengers with information, entertainment and added value.
The production facilities of tomorrow will also be networked. The Smart Factory synchronizes all manufacturing steps digitally. Modular production processes, artificial intelligence and humanrobot co-operation make automotive construction more flexible and easier on resources.
Our customers aspire to a sustainable lifestyle. Audi acknowledges the responsibilities it has in a society where sustainability is a key element.
In the race for the future, electromobility is the driving force of Audi; by 2020 there will be three high-performance electric models available. Under the slogan “Clean cars from clean factories,” Audi is currently implementing measures to make Audi e-tron electric car production in Brussels CO2-neutral. In the world of the combustion engine, too, Audi is resolutely focusing on CO2-neutral mobility. Synthetic fuels, plug-in and mild hybrids, aerodynamics, and lightweight construction increase the efficiency of our products.
Vorsprung in the urban context is about having an understanding of cities and working with them to develop smart solutions. With technologies such as piloted driving and piloted parking, or networked urban infrastructure, Audi is playing an active role in the continuing evolution of urban mobility.
Audi Vorsprung. This strategy challenges the entire company and its activities to a new level. Investment in any one of the three areas of strategic focus will inevitably have a positive impact on the other two. And in this respect, it is digitalization which often provides the key to greater sustainability and better urban solutions.
Digital, sustainable and urban are the three-point strategic focus of Audi. And there will be one result: Audi Vorsprung.