'Audi
AG' is a
German automobile manufacturer with headquarters in
Ingolstadt,
Bavaria, and has been an almost wholly owned (99.7%) subsidiary of the
Volkswagen Group since 1964. The company evolved from
Auto Union,
NSU,
Horch and
DKW, the former having incorporated the historic Audi company which was originally founded in
1910.
Audi's German
tagline is "
Vorsprung durch Technik", meaning "Advancement Through Technology". The German language tagline is also used in other
European countries, such as the UK, and in other markets, such as
Latin America,
Oceania and parts of
Asia. The US tagline is "Truth in Engineering". The Japanese tagline is "Never Follow", the old American and Canadian tagline.
Pronunciation: The correct German and Latin form rhymes with "howdy". (
IPA pronunciation: ).
History
The origins of Audi

Cover of the 1937 English motor sport magazine with an Auto Union racing car on a banked track
The company traces its origins back to
1899 and
August Horch. The first
Horch automobile was produced in
1901 in
Zwickau. In
1909, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded. He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for
trademark infringement and a German court determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was forced to refrain from using his own
family name in his new car business. Horch immediately called a meeting at the apartment of Franz Fikentscher to come up with a new name for his company. During this meeting Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, "Father -
audiatur et altera pars... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it AUDI instead of HORCH?". "Horch!" in German means "Hark!" which is "Audi" in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting.
[1] It is also popularly (but incorrectly) believed that Audi is an
acronym which stands for "Auto Union
Deutschland Ingolstadt".
Audi started with a 2612
cc (2.6 liter)
four cylinder model followed by a 3564 cc (3.6 L) model, as well as 4680 cc (4.7 L) and 5720 cc (5.7L) models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. August Horch left the Audi company in
1920. The first
six cylinder model, 4655 cc (4.7 L) appeared in 1924. In
1928, the company was acquired by
Jørgen Rasmussen, owner of
DKW, who bought the same year the remains of the US
automobile manufacturer,
Rickenbacker including the manufacturing equipment for eight cylinder engines. These engines were used in ''Audi Zwickau'' and ''Audi Dresden'' models that were launched in
1929. At the same time, six cylinder and four cylinder (licensed from
Peugeot) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.
The Auto Union era
In
1932 Audi merged with
Horch,
DKW and
Wanderer to form
Auto Union.
Before
World War II, Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, representing these four brands. This badge was used, however, only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch or Wanderer built engines. During
World War II the Horch/Auto Union produced the
Sd-Kfz 222 armored car, which was used in the German army during the war. It was powered by an 81 hp Horch/Auto Union
V8 Engine which had a top speed of 50 miles per hour.
Another vehicle which was used in World War II to shuttle German military officials safely was known as the Kraftfahrzeug (KFZ 11) or the Horch Type 80. The military used it as a light transport vehicle.
The four-ring logo
The Audi emblem is four overlapping rings that represent the Auto Union. The Audi emblem symbolizes Audi amalgamation of Audi with DKW, Horch and Wanderer: the first ring represents Audi, the second represents DKW, third is Horch, and the fourth and last ring Wanderer.
Pause and a new start
Auto Union plants were heavily bombed and partly destroyed during
World War II. After the war, Zwickau soon became part of the
German Democratic Republic and the Auto Union AG got broken up and named VEB Automobilwerk Zwickau. The new Firm was launched in Ingolstadt still using the old name. Many employees of the destroyed factories in Zwickau came to Ingolstadt and restarted production of cars under the DKW label. These cars were equipped with two stroke engines. They based on a pre war construction and were also built in Zwickau in a very similar way.
In 1958
Daimler-Benz acquired 87 per cent of Auto Union and in the next year 100 per cent. In 1964
Volkswagen bought the factory in Ingolstadt and the brands of the Auto Union. The time of two stroke engines came to an end in the middle of the sixties. Customers were more attracted to the comfortable four stroke engines. In September 1965 the last DKW model, the
DKW F102, got a four stroke engine implanted and some changes of front and rear. Volkswagen dumped the brand DKW because of its two stroke smell, "relaunching" the Audi brand. The model was classified internally as the
F103 and sold as simply the "Audi" (the name being a model designation rather than the manufacturer, which was still officially Auto Union), but later came to be known as the Audi 72. Developments of the model were named for their horsepower ratings and sold as the Audi 60, 75, 80, and Super 90. These models sold until 1972.
In 1969, Auto Union merged with
NSU, based in
Neckarsulm near
Stuttgart. In the 1950s NSU had been the world's largest manufacturer of
motorcycles but had moved on to produce small cars like the
NSU Prinz (the TT and TTS versions are still popular as vintage race cars). NSU then focused on new rotary engines according to the ideas of
Felix Wankel. In 1967, the new
NSU Ro 80 was a space-age car well ahead of its time in technical details such as aerodynamics, light weight, and safety, but teething problems with the rotary engines put an end to the independence of NSU. Today the Neckarsulm plant is used to produce the larger Audi models.
The mid-sized car that NSU had been working on, the
K70, was intended to slot between the rear-engined Prinz models and the futuristic Ro 80. However, Volkswagen took the K70 for its own range, spelling the end of NSU as a separate brand.
The modern era of Audi
The new merged company was known as "Audi NSU Auto Union AG", and saw the emergence of Audi as a separate brand for the first time since the pre-war era. Volkswagen introduced the Audi brand to the United States for the 1970 model year.
The first new car of this regime was the
Audi 100 of 1968. This was soon joined by the
Audi 80/Fox (which formed the basis for the 1973
Volkswagen Passat) in 1972 and the
Audi 50 (later, rebadged as the
Volkswagen Polo) in 1974.
The Audi image at this time was a conservative one, and so, a proposal from chassis engineer
Jörg Bensinger[2] was accepted to develop the
four-wheel drive technology in
Volkswagen's
Iltis military vehicle for an Audi performance car and
rally racing car. The performance car, introduced in 1980, was named the "
quattro," a turbocharged coupé which was also the first German large-scale production vehicle to feature permanent all-wheel drive through a center
differential (not counting the earlier British
Jensen FF, produced in small numbers). Commonly referred to as the "Ur-Quattro" (the "
Ur-" prefix is a German
augmentative used, in this case, to mean "original" and is also applied to the first generation of Audi's S4 and S6 sport sedans, as in "UrS4" and "UrS6"), few of these vehicles were produced (all hand-built by a single team) but the model was a great success in rallying. Prominent wins proved the viability of all-wheel drive racecars, and the Audi name became associated with advances in automotive technology.
In
1985, with the Auto Union and NSU brands effectively dead, the company's official name was now shortened to simply "Audi AG".
In 1986, as the Passat-based Audi 80 was beginning to develop a kind of "grandfather's car" image, the type 89 was introduced. This completely new development sold extremely well. However, its modern and dynamic exterior belied the low performance of its base engine, and its base package was quite spartan (even the passenger-side mirror was an option.) In 1987, Audi put forward a new and very elegant
Audi 90, which had a much superior set of standard features. In the early nineties, sales began to slump for the Audi 80 series, and some basic construction problems started to surface.
This decline in sales was not helped in the
USA by a ''
60 Minutes'' report which purported to show that Audi automobiles suffered from "unintended acceleration". The ''60 Minutes'' report was based on customer reports of acceleration when the brake pedal was pushed. Independent investigators concluded that this was most likely due to a close placement of the accelerator and brake pedals (unlike American cars), and the inability, when not paying attention, to distinguish between the two. (In race cars, when manually downshifting under heavy braking, the accelerator has to be used in order to match revs properly, so both pedals have to be close to each other to be operated by the right foot at once, toes on the brake, heel on the accelerator; a driving technique called
heel-and-toe). This did not become an issue in Europe, possibly due to more widespread experience among European drivers with manual transmissions.
''60 Minutes'' ignored this fact and rigged a car to perform in an uncontrolled manner. The report immediately crushed Audi sales, and Audi renamed the affected model (The 5000 became the 100/200 in 1989, as it was elsewhere). Audi had contemplated withdrawing from the American market until sales began to recover in the mid-1990s. The turning point for Audi was the sale of the new A4 in 1996, and with the release of the A4/6/8 series, which was developed together with VW and other sister brands (so called "platforms").
Currently, Audi's sales are growing strongly in Europe. 2004 marked the 11th straight increase in sales, selling 779,441 vehicles worldwide. Record figures were recorded from 21 out of about 50 major sales markets. The largest sales increases came from Eastern Europe (+19.3%), Africa (+17.2%) and the Middle East (+58.5%) . In March of 2005, Audi is building its first two dealerships in India following its high increase in sales in the region.
Audi has recently started offering a computerised control system for its cars called
Multi Media Interface (MMI). This comes amid criticism of BMW's
iDrive control, essentially a rotating control knob designed to control radio, satellite navigation, TV, heating and car controls with a screen. MMI has been widely reported to be an improvement on BMW's iDrive. (BMW has since made their iDrive more user friendly.)
MMI has been generally well-received, as it requires less menu-surfing with its mass of buttons around a central knob, with shortcuts to the radio or phone functions. The screen, either colour or monochrome, is mounted on the upright dashboard, and on the A6 and A8, the controls are mounted horizontally. However, an "MMI Like" system is also available on the Audi A3 and A4 models when equipped with the optional Navigation System.
Models
Current models
★
A3
★
A4
★
A5
★
A6
★
A8
★
Q7
★
Allroad Quattro
★
RS4
★
R8
★
S3
★
S4
★
S5
★
S6
★
S8
★
TT
Discontinued models
★
50
★
Audi and Audi 60/72/75/80/Super 90
★
80/90/4000/Coupé/Cabriolet
★
100/200/5000
★
A2
★
Quattro
★
RS2
★
RS6
★
S2
★
UrS4/S6
★
V8
Racing models
★
Sport Quattro
★
R8
★
R10 ''(current model)''
★
Sport
Prototypes and concept cars
★
A1
★
A7
★
Allroad Quattro Concept
★
Avantissimo
★
Avus Quattro
★
Le Mans Quattro
★
Nuvolari Quattro
★
Pikes Peak Quattro
★
Q3
★
Q5
★
Roadjet
★
RSQ ''(from
I, Robot)''
★
Shooting Brake
★
Audi R-Zero
Auto racing
Audi has competed in numerous forms of
auto racing. Audi's rich tradition in motorsport began with the
Auto Union in the 1930s. In the 1990s Audi dominated the Touring and Super Touring categories of motor racing after success in circuit racing Stateside.
Rallying
In 1980 Audi released the
Quattro, an
all wheel drive turbocharged car that went on to win
rallies and races worldwide. It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time because it was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of all-wheel-drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of all-wheel-drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was to become a successful car. Leading its first rally it went off the road, however the rally world had been served notice AWD was the future. It won competition after competition for the next two years.
In 1984 Audi launched the short-wheelbase Sport Quattro car which dominated races in
Monte Carlo and
Sweden with Audi taking all podium finishes but succumbed to problems further into
World Rally Championship contention. After another season mired in mediocre finishes,
Walter Röhrl finished the season in his Sport Quattro S1 and helped place Audi second in the manufacturer's points. Audi also received rally honors in the
Hong Kong to
Beijing rally in that same year.
Michèle Mouton, the first female WRC driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship and a driver for Audi, took the Sport Quattro S1, now simply called the S1 and raced in the
Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The climb race pits a driver and car to drive up a 4,302 meter high mountain in
Colorado and in 1985, Michèle Mouton set a new record of 11:25.39 and being the first woman to set a Pikes Peak record. In 1986, Audi formally left international rally racing following an accident in Portugal involving driver Joaquim Santos in his Ford RS200. Santos swerved to avoid hitting spectators in the road, and left the track into the crowd of spectators on the side, killing three and injuring 30.
Bobby Unser used an Audi in that same year to claim a new record for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb at 11:09.22.
Motorsports in the USA
In 1987, Walter Röhrl claimed the title for Audi setting a new
Pikes Peak record of 10:47.85 in his Audi S1 which he retired from the WRC two years earlier. The Audi S1 employed Audi's time-tested 5-cylinder turbo charged engine and generated over 600 hp (447 kW). The engine was mated to a 6-speed gearbox and ran on Audi's famous all-wheel drive system. All of Audi's top drivers drove this beast, Hannu Mikkola, Stig Blomqvist, Walter Röhrl and the female driver, Michèle Mouton. The Audi S1 enjoys a 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) time of 2.3 s. This Audi S1 started the S-series of cars for Audi which now represents an increased level of sports options and quality in the Audi line-up.
As Audi moved away from rallying and into circuit racing, they chose to move first into America with the
Trans-Am in 1988.
In 1989, Audi moved to
IMSA GTO with the
90, however as they avoided the two major endurance events (Daytona and Sebring) despite winning on a regular basis, they would lose out on the title.
Touring cars
In 1990, having completed their objective to market cars in the United States, Audi returned to Europe turning first to the
DTM series with the
Audi V8, then in 1993, being unwilling to build cars for the new formula, they turned their attention to the fast growing
Supertouring series, which took place nationally, first in the
French Supertourisme and
Italian Superturismo. In the following year, Audi would switched to the German
Super Tourenwagen (known as STW) and then to
BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) the year after that.
The
FIA, having difficulty regulating the Quattro system and what impact it had on the competitors, would eventually ban all four wheel drive cars from competiting in 1998, by then Audi switched all their works efforts to sports car racing.
By 2000, Audi would still compete in the US with their
RS4 for the
SCCA Speed World GT Challenge, through dealer/team
Champion Racing competing against Corvettes, Vipers, and smaller BMWs (where it is one of the few series to permit 4WD cars). In 2003, Champion Racing entered an
RS6. Once again, the Quattro was superior and Champion Audi won the championship. They returned in 2004 to defend their title but a newcomer, Cadillac with the new Omega Chassis CTS-V, gave them a run for their money. After four victories in a row, the Audis were sanctioned with several negative changes that deeply affected the car's performance. Namely, added ballasts and Champion Audi deciding to go with different tires and backing off the turbos boost pressure.
In 2004, after years of competing with the TT-R in the revitalised DTM series, with privateer team
Abt Racing/Christian Abt taking the 2002 title with
Laurent Aïello, Audi returned as a full factory effort to touring car racing by entering two factory supported
Joest Racing A4s.
Sports car racing
Beginning in 1999, Audi built the
Audi R8 to compete in
sports car racing, including the
LMP900 class at the
24 hours of Le Mans. The factory supported Joest Racing team won at Le Mans three times in a row (2000 — 2002), as well as winning every race in the
American Le Mans Series in its first year. Audi also sold the car to customer teams such as
Champion Racing. In 2003, two
Bentley Speed 8s, with engines designed by Audi and driven by Joest drivers ''loaned'' to the fellow VW company, competed in the GTP class and finished the race in the top two positions, while the Champion Racing R8 finished third overall and first in the LMP900 class. Audi returned to the winner's circle at the 2004 race, with the top three finishers all driving R8s: Audi Sport Japan Team Goh finished first, Audi Sport UK Veloqx second, and Champion Racing third.
At the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans, Champion Racing entered two R8s along with an R8 from the Audi PlayStation Team
Oreca. The R8s (which were built to old LMP900 regulations) received a more narrow air inlet restrictor, cutting power, and an additional 50 kg of weight compared to the newer LMP1 chassis. On average, the R8s were about 2-3 seconds off pace compared to the
Pescarolo-
Judd. But with a team of excellent drivers and experience, both Champion R8s were able to take first and third while the ORECA team took fourth. The Champion team was also the first American team to win Le Mans since the Gulf Ford GT's in 1967. This also ends the long era of the R8;, however, its replacement for 2006, called the
Audi R10, was unveiled on December 13, 2005. the R10 employs many new features, including a twin-turbocharged diesel engine. Its first race was the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring as a race-test for the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, which it later went on to win. Audi has been on the forefront of motorsports, claiming a historic win in the first ever diesel sports car at 12 Hours of Sebring. Audi has achieved the title as the most dominant motor sport power since the start of the 21st Century, continuing its long and storied motor sport heritage.
Technology
Audi produces 100%
galvanized vehicles to prevent corrosion. Along with other precautionary measures, the thus achieved full-body
zinc coating has proved to be very effective in preventing rust and
corrosion perforation. The body's resulting durability even surpassed Audi's own expectations, causing the manufacturer to extend its original 10-year
warranty against corrosion perforation to currently 12 years. An all-
aluminium car was brought forward by Audi, and in 1994 the Audi A8 was launched, which introduced aluminum
space frame technology. Audi introduced a new series of vehicles in the mid-nineties and continues to pursue leading-edge technology and high performance.
The all-aluminum concept was extended to the company's new
sub-compact, the
Audi A2 which was launched in 2001, although this model was withdrawn from production late in 2005 as the costs of producing an all-aluminium small car proved too high for many buyers looking for a small semi-luxurious car. The aluminium body has proved better suited to larger executive models such as the large A8 saloon.
In all its post Volkswagen-era models, Audi has firmly refused to adopt the traditional
rear wheel drive layout favoured by its two arch rivals
Mercedes-Benz and
BMW, favouring either
front wheel drive or
all wheel drive. To achieve this, Audi has usually engineered its cars with a longitudinally mounted engine mounted in an "overhung" position over the front wheels - in front of the axle line. While this allows for equal length driveshafts (therefore combatting
torque steer), and the easy adoption of all-wheel drive, it goes against the ideal 50/50 weight distribution. For this reason, most still believe that BMW has the edge over Audi in terms of dynamic prowess, although this will be addressed with the forthcoming
A5 coupe in
2007, which will feature the engine mounted behind the front wheels.
In the 1970s, two vehicle manufacturers Audi and
Subaru designed their own
all wheel drive systems in passenger vehicles. In the 1980s, all-wheel drive systems in cars became a fad, and other German manufacturers like
Porsche,
BMW and
Mercedes-Benz offered all-wheel drive systems in their cars to compete in the marketplace, along with
GM,
Ford,
Toyota and others. Unfortunately, the all-wheel drive system in the Mercedes-Benz vehicles were riddled with problems right from the design sheet. The system also was not popular in Porsche vehicles because owners wanted the traditional performance of the
rear wheel drive they got used to in older Porsches. Although Porsche and Mercedes-Benz offer all-wheel-drive systems in some cars and trucks today, neither manufacturer is as well-known for all-wheel-drive technology as is Audi. Today, after over 25 years of class-leading technology and engineering, the name ''
quattro'' is an identifiable symbol and trademark that shows would-be competitors the level of quality they have to achieve in order to attempt to compete with Audi's all-wheel-drive. Audi has also recently applied the ''
quattro'' badge to models such as the A3 and TT which do not actually use the quattro system as in prior years, with a mechanical center differential, but with the Swedish Haldex electromechanical clutch AWD system.
In the 1980s, Audi was the champion of the inline 5 cylinder,
2.1/2.2 L engine as a longer lasting alternative to more traditional 6 cylinder engines. This engine was used not only in production cars but also in their race cars. The 2.1L inline 5 cylinder engine was used as a base for the rally cars in the 1980s, providing well over 400
horsepower (298kW) after modification. Before 1990, there were engines produced with a displacement between 2.0L and 2.3L. This range of engine capacity was a good combination of good fuel economy (which was on the mind of every motorist in the 1980s) and, of course, a good amount of power.
Through the early 1990s, Audi began to move more towards the position of being a real competitor in its target market against global luxury leaders Mercedes-Benz and BMW. This began with the release of the Audi V8 in 1990. It was essentially a new engine fitted to the Audi 100/200, but with noticeable bodywork differences. Most obvious was the new grille that was now incorporated in the bonnet.
By 1991, Audi had the 4 cylinder
Audi 80, the 5 cylinder
Audi 90 and
Audi 100, the turbocharged
Audi 200 and the
Audi V8. There was also a coupe version of the 80/90 with both 4 and 5 cylinder engines.
Although the five cylinder engine was a successful and very robust powerplant, it was still a little too different for the target market. With the introduction of an all-new Audi 100 in 1992, Audi introduced a 2.8L V6 engine. This engine was also fitted to a face-lifted Audi 80 (all 80 and 90 models were now badged 80 except for the USA), giving this model a choice of 4, 5 and 6 cylinder engines, in sedan, coupe and cabriolet body styles.
The 5 cylinder was soon dropped as a major engine choice; however, a turbocharged 230hp (169kW) version remained. The engine, initially fitted to the 200 quattro 20V of 1991, was a derivative of the engine fitted to the Sport Quattro. It was fitted to the Audi Coupe and named the S2 and also to the Audi 100 body, and named the
S4. These two models were the beginning of the mass-produced S series of performance cars.
The
Audi A8 replaced the
V8 in 1994, with a revolutionary Aluminium Space Frame (ASF) to save weight. The weight reduction was offset by the quattro all-wheel drive system. It meant the car had similar performance to its rivals, but superior handling.
The next major model change was in 1995 when the
Audi A4 replaced the
Audi 80. The new nomenclature scheme was applied to the Audi 100 to become the Audi A6 (with a minor facelift). This also meant the S4 became the
S6 and a new S4 was introduced in the A4 body. The S2 was discontinued. The
Audi Cabriolet continued on (based on the Audi 80 platform) until 1999, gaining the engine upgrades along the way. A new
A3 hatchback model (sharing the
Volkswagen Golf Mk.4's platform) was introduced to the range in 1996, and the radical
TT coupe and roadster were debuted in 1998 based on the same underpinnings. Another interesting model introduced was the
Mercedes-Benz A-Class competitor, the
Audi A2. The model sold relatively well in Europe, however, the A2 was discontinued in 2005 and Audi decided not to develop an immediate replacement.
The engines available throughout the range were now a 1.4L, 1.6L and 1.8L 4 cylinder, 1.8L 4-cylinder turbo, 2.6L and 2.8L V6, 2.2L turbo-charged 5 cylinder and the 4.2L V8. The V6s were replaced by new 2.4L and 2.8L 30V V6s in 1998, with marked improvement in power, torque and smoothness. Further engines were added along the way, including a 3.7L V8 and 6.0L W12 for the A8.
At the turn of the century, Audi introduced the
direct-shift gearbox, or DSG, a manual transmission drivable like an automatic transmission. The system includes dual electrohydraulically controlled clutches instead of a
torque converter. This is implemented in some
Volkswagen Golf,
Audi A3 and
TT models. The engine range was continually upgraded, with a 2.7L twin turbo V6 being offered in the Audi S4, A6 and allroad, while the 2.8L V6 was replaced by a 3.0L unit.
In 2001, Audi released a high performance version of the A8, dubbed S8. It featured a 360-horsepower 4.2L V8 with 317 torque.
New models of the A3, A4, A6 and A8 have been introduced, with the aging 1.8 litre engine now having been replaced by new FSI (
Fuel Stratified Injection) engines. Nearly every petrol model in the range now incorporates this fuel-saving technology, including the following:
1.6 litre 4 cylinder 115bhp,
2.0 litre 4 cylinder 150bhp (Slowly being phased out in order to make way for TSI engines - see section below),
2.0 litre 4 cylinder 200bhp,
2.0 litre 4 cylinder 220bhp,
3.2 litre V6 250-260bhp,
4.2 litre V8 350bhp,
4.2 litre V8 414bhp, &
5.2 litre V10 450bhp.
Other engines on sale and featuring in products of the Audi brand include:
1.6 litre 4 cylinder 102bhp,
1.9 litre TDi 105bhp,
2.0 litre TDi 140bhp,
2.0 litre TDi 170bhp,
2.7 litre TDi 180bhp,
3.0 litre TDi 233bhp, &
4.2 litre TDi 326bhp.
All TDi models are diesels.
As a premium member of the VW Group, technologies are frequently first introduced to the mass market in Audi vehicles before being 'trickled down' to more value oriented brands such as VW,
SEAT and
Å koda. Recent examples of this include a number of the FSI engines mentioned above, as well as the quick-shifting DSG automatic gearbox option.
TSI technology was introduced to the Volkswagen Golf early in 2006. These engines use, initially at least, a capacity of 1.4 litres combined with both a turbo- and super-charger to produce a high power output, with lower levels of harmful carbon dioxide emissions and improved fuel economy when compared with a non-turbo or super-charged engine of a high capacity, such as 2.0 litres. The 1.4 litre TSI engine currently on sale in VW's Golf produces outputs of 140 and 170bhp. These engines have proved popular amongst the motoring press in Britain and could soon be filtered into the Audi range, with a possibility of featuring in the A3 and A4 models, as well as maybe featuring in
SEAT and Skoda's model ranges sometime soon.
Audi has publicly set a goal to surpass BMW and the luxury and safety leaders Mercedes-Benz in global sales by 2015 and have made giant strides to the achievement of this goal since.
See also
★
Audi Centre of Excellence
★
Audi Driving Experience
External links
★ Official
★
★
Official website
★
★
Audi glossary.
★ Other
★
★
Audi Logo
References
1. A History of Progress - Chronicle of the Audi AG, , , , Audi AG, Public Relations, 1996,
2. Quattro, The early years