From Tegernsee to Tokyo: After a training camp in Upper Bavaria, FC Bayern Munich is traveling to Asia together with its long-time partner Audi under the motto “A way to inspire”. The first stop on the Audi Summer Tour is Tokyo: At the Audi Football Summit in Japan’s capital, head coach Thomas Tuchel’s team will go up against English champions and Champions League winners Manchester City on July 26 (12:30 p.m., CEST). On July 29, the team faces Japanese top-league club Kawasaki Frontale (12 p.m., CEST). The next day, Germany’s record champion club will fly on to Singapore: At the Singapore Trophy presented by Audi, FC Bayern will face Liverpool FC, managed by coach Jürgen Klopp on August 2 (1:30 p.m., CEST). RTL will broadcast the high-profile friendly matches against Manchester City and Liverpool FC live on free television in Germany at noon. The games, including the match against Kawasaki Frontale, can also be viewed on pay-TV channel Sky. This is the eighth time that the brand with the four rings has given its name to, and partnered with, FC Bayern Munich’s Audi Summer Tour.

“Our partnership with FC Bayern Munich shows: We live progress! We’re also demonstrating this with the Audi Summer Tour in Japan and Singapore, with sporting events and fascinating experiences in strong solidarity with our partner FC Bayern Munich. Asia is of great importance to Audi as our most important growth market. I’m delighted that we are now expanding our product portfolio with the launch of the Audi Q8 e-tron and further strengthening our e-offensive in Asia in the long term,” says Hildegard Wortmann, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG.

The Audi Q8 e-tron with the design of the new FC Bayern away jersey

The Audi Q8 e-tron, which will join the FC Bayern Munich team on its trip to Asia, is getting special decals. With the colors black, green, and purple, they reflect the color scheme of the Audi Summer Tour.

Andreas Jung, Executive Board Member responsible for marketing at FC Bayern said: “This year, the Audi Summer Tour offers our fans in Asia the opportunity to experience FC Bayern players live for the first time in five years. We are looking forward to our time in Tokyo and Singapore, where our fan base across the region continues to grow. We want to create even more enthusiasm for soccer there and, together with our partners, inspire people beyond the pitch itself.”

FC Bayern Munich is making its first guest appearance in Japan since 2008; on its last visit to Asia in 2017, the team stopped at China and Singapore.

Top model features over 40 driver assistance systems

As the successor to the electric pioneer, the Audi e-tron, the Audi Q8 e-tron stands out with an optimized drive concept, improved aerodynamics, and higher charging performance and battery capacity. All these innovations make for an increased range up to 600 kilometers (under the WLTP standard) for the Sportback model. The new model from Ingolstadt also offers maximum space and comfort. The features of the Q8 e-tron also meet the demands of discerning Japanese customers, who see the brand with the four rings as a progressive player in the BEV segment.

Among other achievements, the electric SUV and crossover top model sets new standards with its luxury-class interior, which is even brighter thanks to the power panoramic glass roof. Like in all luxury-class models from Audi, the Q8 e-tron also uses the MMI touch response operating system. Practically all the car’s features can be activated via two high-resolution touch displays. In addition, the Audi Q8 e-tron provides drivers with approximately 40 driver assistance systems.

The brand with the four rings and FC Bayern Munich have been partners since 2002; their partnership was recently extended until 2029. Audi has also been a shareholder in FC Bayern München AG since 2011.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

Using artificial intelligence, Audi analyzes around 1.5 million spot welds on 300 vehicles each shift at its Neckarsulm site. By comparison, until recently, production staff used ultrasound to manually monitor the quality of resistance spot welding (abbreviated WPS in German) processes based on random analyses. With the ultrasound method, they checked around 5,000 spot welds per vehicle. By applying AI, employees can now focus on possible anomalies. This new approach will enable them to control quality more efficiently and in a more targeted way.

Preparations for using the technology at other plants in the Volkswagen Group have already begun. For example, the technical infrastructure for AI use is currently being installed at Audi Brussels. The Volkswagen plant in Emden is scheduled to install the necessary infrastructure this year, as will Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt. To install the technical infrastructure at these locations, the team of experts is currently identifying differences in weld settings in order to retrain the AI model accordingly.

There is one car that has to be shown among the TT’s ancestors: the 1995 show car. Audi presented the study at the IAA in Frankfurt in September of that year. And right away, public opinion was clear: The car should go into series production – exactly as it is! So, the decision was made in late 1995 that the Audi TT Coupé would be built. And in 1998, production began. Torsten Wenzel, the exterior designer at Audi who helped translate the study into series production, recalls: “To us, the greatest praise was when the trade press noted appreciatively that little had changed from the study to the series model, although we did, of course, have to adapt several details due to the technical specifications for the series version, including the proportions.” For Wenzel, who owns his own first-generation TT, the TT remains unchanged today, “a drivable sculpture, with the finest surfaces and lines.”

The Audi TT was an innovation with a traditional name

The Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer deliberately deviated from the usual Audi conventions when it named the new sports car back then: The model name “TT” is reminiscent of the legendary Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man, one of the oldest and most spectacular motorsports events in the world and one where NSU and DKW achieved great success with their motorcycles. With the NSU TT, the Neckarsulm-based car manufacturer had already established a connection to the brand’s motorsports successes on the island in the 1960s. The brand with the four rings then used this double reference when naming the Audi TT. Curator Stefan Felber: “We are also showing some special models from this part of TT history in our summer exhibition.” For example, the 1954 NSU Rennfox, the motorcycle that won the TT Ulster and gave its name to the later NSU models Quickly TT and NSU Prinz TT. Through this lineage, it is ultimately also a predecessor of the Audi TT, a model that was as revolutionary as it was brand-defining.

State of the ArTT – the Audi TT turns 25
July 24 to September 24 at the Audi museum mobile; booking and ticket prices online
In addition to exhibits on the history of the “TT” name, the summer exhibition on the history of the Audi TT itself also features several studies and coupés from all three generations, such as the 2005 Audi TT quattro sport, the 2009 Audi TTS Pikes Peak “Shelly”, the 2013
Audi TT ultra quattro concept, and the winner of the 2017 Audi TT Cup.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

“Just like in production development, simulation plays a major role in our Formula 1 project. Our simulator is an important tool for the power unit development. It requires a development driver who in addition to a grasp of technology brings versatile experience to the project, especially in terms of energy management in racing conditions,” says Oliver Hoffmann, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development of AUDI AG.

As a former test and reserve driver at Red Bull Racing, Jani spent many hours in a Formula 1 simulator. As a race driver in endurance racing, he gathered valuable experience in a hybrid race car. As a member of the Porsche factory team, he won the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2016 as well as the famous 24-hour race at Le Mans. “I am delighted to accompany Audi on their way into Formula 1. It is both an honor and a great responsibility to be involved in a project of this magnitude at an early stage. I am sure that with my experience from Formula 1 and LMP projects I can forge good links between theory and practice,” says the Swiss.

Since the end of 2022 testing of a one-cylinder engine has been delivering valuable results for the development of the power unit. The continuing concept phase is laying the performance-related groundwork of the power unit for 2026 when the new regulations provide for increasing electrification. The electric motor (MGU-K) will then deliver nearly the same output as the internal combustion engine. The highly efficient 1.6-liter turbo engines are powered by sustainable synthetic fuel. 

“At the moment, we are mainly focused on fundamental concept questions with high relevance to performance. However, in evaluating various technical solutions we rely not only on digital methods. Know-how, experience and practically relevant development are indispensable elements of drawing the right conclusions from the simulation. With that combination, we can assess various operating strategies at an early stage and pave the way for efficient energy management of the power unit,” says Adam Baker, CEO of Audi Formula Racing GmbH. 

The first hybrid power unit consisting of the internal combustion engine, electric motor, battery and control electronics is planned to be run on the dyno before the year is out and provide the basis for the future vehicle concept. Thanks to open competition, Formula 1 serves as a technology driver for both electromobility and sustainable e-fuels. 

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com