New design and equipment packages for Audi A8

Two new equipment packages can now be ordered for the Audi A8: the Audi comfort plus style package and the Audi sport plus style package. The new paint color Panther Black, crystal effect is now also available exclusively for the A8.

Equipped with the Audi comfort plus style package, the Audi A8 is finished in Night Blue, pearl effect and fitted with 19-inch forged aluminum wheels of 12-spoke design. The comfort seats are upholstered in silk beige Valcona leather; the full-leather trim for the center console, doors and dashboard is in silk beige Fine Nappa leather. The equipment package also includes heating for the front and rear seats, and front seats with seat ventilation and massage function. The “adaptive light” system with LED daytime running lights is another special feature. The Audi comfort plus style package costs between € 4,200 and €14,500, depending on engine version.

The Audi product program also includes the Audi sport plus style package with all-new Panther Black, crystal effect paint, which was developed exclusively for the A8. This package includes “adaptive light” with LED daytime running lights, sports seats in goa beige Valcona leather and heating for the front seats. The center console, doors and lower dashboard are trimmed in black Fine Nappa leather. 20-inch “S design” cast aluminum wheels in a dark steel finish round out the exterior of the new equipment version of the Audi A8.

The Audi sport plus style package costs between € 2,100 and € 9,600, depending on engine version.

2.0 TFSI S-Tronic – 380HP version MTM Tuners have created an all out sexy-as-hell Audi TT-S sports coupe. This little ride packs a hardcore punch – featuring your choice of 330 horse power or 380! Check out full details in the specs below.

* engine 2.0 TFSI quattro
* displacement in cc 1984 ccm
* bore & stroke in mm 82,5 x 92,8 mm
* compression 9,8 : 1
* boost pressure (max.) 1,55 bar
* gearbox type 6-speed S tronic direct-shift
* power output (max.) 279 kW (380 bhp) at 6240 rpm
* torque (max.) 494 Nm at 4580 rpm
* top speed in km/h 265 km/h – depends on tyre size

* drive type quattro permanent all-wheel drive
* brake system – front 380 x 34 mm drilled, 8-piston Brembo-caliper
* Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 245/30 ZR 20
* MTM bimoto forged rims 9 x 20″

* basic price of the vehicle: 46.000 €
* 380 PS kit – like 330 PS kit with MTM exhaust manifold, turbocharger and air inlet ca. 17.000 €
* MTM Brembo-brake 380 x 34 mm 4.465 €
* MTM rimset 9 x 20″ 5.500 €
* lowering springs 250 €
* rear spoiler incl. Lacquering ca. 500 €

MTM TTS 2.0 TFSI S-Tronic – 330HP version

* Engine 2.0 TFSI quattro
* Displacement in cc 1984 ccm
* Bore & stroke in mm 82,5 x 92,8 mm
* Compression 9,8 : 1
* Boost pressure (max.) 1,55 bar
* Gearbox type 6-speed S tronic direct-shift
* Power output (max.) 243 kW (330 bhp) at 6240 rpm
* Torque (max.) 420 Nm at 3200 rpm
* Top speed in km/h 265 km/h – depends on tyre size

* Drive type quattro permanent all-wheel drive
* Brake system – front 380 x 34 mm drilled, 8-piston Brembo-caliper
* Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 245/30 ZR 20
* MTM bimoto forged rims 9 x 20″

* Basic price of the vehicle: 46.000,-
* Conversion kit 330 bhp 6.388,-
* MTM Brembo-brake 380 x 34 mm 4.465,-
* MTM rimset 9 x 20″ 5.500,-
* Lowering springs 250,-
* Rear spoiler incl. Lacquering ca. 500,-

_____________________
complete price of the vehicle: 63.103 €
( price incl. tax.+ installation)

The mobile museum will also feature the debut of a re-created 1935 Audi 225 Front Special Roadster. More in the Audi Press Release Below – Happy Birthday!

* 100 years of Audi: a special exhibition in the Audi museum mobile with the oldest surviving Audi models on display
* World premiere of the rebuilt Audi Front 225 Special Roadster
* 1911 Audi Type A in Ingolstadt for the first time
* Comic strips narrate Audi’s early history

Ingolstadt – The museum mobile in the Audi Forum Ingolstadt has organised a spectacular exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the Audi brand. For this unique event, which is entitled “From Horch to Audi – The history of perfection has a new name”, historic cars have been collected together from all over Europe. From March 11 to July 16, 2009, visitors to the Audi museum mobile will be able to see thirteen cars dating from before the Second World War, including the first model to bear the Audi name, a 1911 Audi Type A, and a world premiere – the 1935 Audi 225 Front Special Roadster which was recently rebuilt. Both these cars, and many other exhibits as well, are the only examples to be seen anywhere in the world.

AUDI AG can look back on a very varied and often turbulent history. Before the end of the 19th century, August Horch established a company known as Horch & Cie. Motorwagen Werke in Cologne. In 1902 he moved it to Zwickau in Saxony, and in 1904 it was reorganized into a joint-stock company. In 1909, following a dispute with the members of the executive and supervisory boards, August Horch left the company and a few weeks later established a second automobile manufacturing operation, also in Zwickau. Since he could not use his own name, which was a registered brand, he chose a Latin translation instead: the German word “Horch!” (meaning “Listen!”) became “Audi”. The use of this Latin imperative was suggested by the son of one of August Horch’s business partners, a student of Latin, who had followed the discussion about a new name with interest. Car production began on a small scale, true to Horch’s basic principle of building only “good, strong cars”, but only a few years later Audi had already developed into one of the best-known German automobile brands. It enjoyed success in competition from the very start. Victories in Austrian Alpine Rallies between 1911 and 1914 made the Audi name familiar on the international scene. The Audi Type C 14/35 PS was especially successful, and acquired the name “Alpine Victor”.

The Audi museum mobile will be displaying no fewer than thirteen of the oldest Audi cars still in existence anywhere in the world. In order to present not only these historic vehicles but also any number of anecdotes from the company’s early days in a stimulating manner, including the years up to the major interruption in its activities caused by the Second World War, the exhibition’s organisers have adopted an unusual approach. The stories have become a storyboard, and this in turn takes the form of a comic strip. Each page deals with anecdotes, special occurrences and legendary landmarks in the Audi company’s history. The choice of name, the dismissal of August Horch, the first eight-cylinder model, the pioneering adoption by Audi of left-hand drive in Germany, the competition for the first Audi radiator badge, acquisition by DKW and the subsequent creation of Auto Union – the chronicle continues until the point when, on the outbreak of war, Germany’s second-largest automobile manufacturer had to cease production of passenger cars for the general public. As Stefan Felber from the Audi museum mobile explains: “Audi’s history is far too exciting for a conventional form of presentation. We have aimed to make it easily comprehensible at first glance, and for children to understand it easily too.”

Car enthusiasts will welcome the chance to see outstanding examples from Audi’s early history, above all the timelessly elegant Audi Front Roadster, on display for the very first time. Only two specimens of this prototype were built in 1935, and both have disappeared. Audi Tradition therefore supplied an original chassis to the specialist Zinke company in Zwönitz, which built a replica body with only photographs as a guide. Now this roadster, a “dream in white”, is making its world premiere at the Audi museum mobile. Another exceptional highlight is the Audi Type A, which dates from 1911. Exhibited for the first time at the company’s head offices in Ingolstadt, this is the 78th car built by Audi in Zwickau and the oldest to have survived. This unique Type A, with its 26-horsepower engine, was capable of reaching 75 km/h. For the exhibition “From Horch to Audi – The history of perfection has a new name”, it has been loaned by the National Technical Museum in Prague –the first time, incidentally, that it has been made available in this way.

The second-oldest exhibit, an Audi Type E built in 1913, also has a dramatic tale to tell. Its 55-hp engine, with a displacement of 5.7 litres, is the largest built by Audi during its Zwickau period. This model remained in production until 1924. Two examples are to be seen in the exhibition, one from the first and one from the final production batch. Although they have similar open tourer bodies, the changes introduced over an 11-year period can be clearly seen. The hero on the competition scene, however, is definitely the “Alpine Victor” – the Audi Type C, built from 1911 to 1925. With August Horch himself as one of the drivers, this car won the Austrian Alpine Rally, at that time the most challenging event of its kind, three times in succession, the last occasion being in 1914. The car on display dates from 1919 and is still in roadgoing condition.

Audi recorded a number of technical milestones in 1923 with the Audi Type M, in its day one of Germany’s most luxurious and expensive cars. The engine had a light-alloy block and an overhead camshaft driven by a vertical shaft and bevel gears. An intake air cleaner was fitted. This Audi model was the first to have four-wheel brakes. The list price of 22,300 Reichsmarks was not within everyone’s reach: Three of the 228 cars sold have survived, and also an additional chassis. The car on display is a sectioned model intended to illustrate the outstanding technical features and workmanship of the car. The Audi Type M was followed by the first Audi eight-cylinder model, the Audi Type R “Imperator”, which broke through the symbolic hundred-horsepower barrier. The car on display was built in 1929, and is the only remaining example of this model anywhere in the world.

In 1931 Audi began to build the Type P, the first small car in the brand’s history. For many years it was believed that none had survived, until 2003, when one was found in a barn in Ludwigsburg. Its documents indicated that the last owner had been the mayor of a town in the Swabian region of Germany and that the car had been taken off the road in 1955, to spend almost half a century like Sleeping Beauty waiting to be reawakened. Following extensive restoration in Riga (Latvia), Audi Tradition is now able to display this unusual car again – the sole surviving Type P. This first major Audi centenary exhibition is rounded off by cars produced by the Auto Union after its establishment and up to 1940 – two different Audi Front 225 models dating from 1935 and the last Audi to appear before the outbreak of war, the 1939 Audi 920.

This is the second year in a row Audi will run a Super Bowl ad, but will be the first one featuring Statham. Details in the press release below.

Official Audi Press Release:

Audi’s new Super Bowl ad, “Chase,” defines luxury for the new era
- 60-second creative will star Jason Statham
- Spot will include new supercharged Audi A6 luxury sedan
- Audi is advertising in the Super Bowl for the second year in a row

HERNDON, Va., Jan 21, 2009 – Audi aims to create as much on-screen excitement in its second Super Bowl ad as the players create on the field. Inspired by iconic Hollywood chase scenes, actor Jason Statham, known for his action-packed roles in the “Transporter” series, “Snatch” and “The Bank Job,” rushes from decade to decade to avoid capture, trying to find a vehicle to aid his getaway. He finds that several other luxury vehicles fail to get the job done. That is, until he finds the supercharged Audi A6, the company’s redesigned, mid-sized luxury sedan. This ad will mark Jason Statham’s first time doing a Super Bowl commercial.

In 2008, Audi placed old luxury on notice with its first Super Bowl ad in nearly 20 years. This year’s spot is a high-speed journey through luxury automobiles in American history, sending the message that some things are best left in the past. Audi chose this trip through history as the theme for its Super Bowl ad to send the message that, in the luxury automotive marketplace, Audi is the most progressive choice.

The new supercharged A6 is the latest in the line of successful new products Audi has introduced in recent years, including the stunning R8 sports car, the A5, the A4 and the TTS, as well as the upcoming Audi Q5 crossover, which will be introduced in the spring of 2009. These models combine to form one of the industry’s most complete and compelling product line-ups. Audi engineers its products to meet the needs of its consumers now and in the future, ensuring that while fads may come and go, Audi is here to stay.

“After an exceptional last two years, the Audi brand has experienced unprecedented growth, not just in sales, but in awareness and excitement,” said Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer, Audi of America. “Every new model we introduce is making more and more consumers stand up and take notice of the single best line-up in the market. Last year’s spot sent the message that Audi was truly redefining luxury. This year’s spot will ensure that everyone realizes that Audi is the best choice, period.”

“In addition to having had the opportunity to drive Audi models in several of my films, I drive one in my personal life, as well. I have always loved the mix of style and performance they offer,” said Statham. “I am thrilled to be affiliated with a company I so believe in on the biggest stage in American television.”

Audi’s advertising agency, San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners, created the ad, which was shot on-location in Los Angeles. The agency painstakingly recreated different eras in American history with costuming, lighting, film stock and period-specific automobiles to create a stunning depiction of the different eras explored in the ad.