Audi 2011 Annual Report Download - page 47

Fuel consumption and emission fi gures at the end of the Annual Report
Prologue
Katharina Wagner, opera director
and director of the Bayreuth Festival,
is a little nervous, just like before
a premiere. In fact, her visit to the
Audi Ring at the International Motor
Show (IAA) in Frankfurt in September
2011 was a premiere. Except that she
was already familiar with the terrain
and fond of it. After all, the great-
granddaughter of Richard Wagner
developed a liking for automobiles at
a very early age: “As far as I know, my
first words were not mama or papa,
but car and light.”
Her destination cannot be over-
looked. A futuristic complex rises up
like a huge UFO in the middle
of the Agora, the central “market-
place” of the Frankfurt exhibition
grounds. A curved facade, gleaming in
silver, and featuring the words
“Audi – Vorsprung durch Technik.”
A world premiere! For the first time,
AUDI AG has its own exhibition
hall, the Audi Ring, at the show. The
word “ring” immediately takes us
back to our celebrity guest, whose
curiosity is piqued as she makes her
way to the building.
Act One
Six steps, then through a glass door –
Katharina Wagner now enters a well-
lit hall that resembles a huge stage.
The main actors are recognizable at a
glance: They are the new Audi models,
such as the S7 Sportback in Misano
Red positioned directly at the entrance,
behind it an R8 GT Spyder in Sphere Blue
and to the right an Ice Silver Q3. Clad
in a mottled gray pant suit, the opera
director makes her way forward across
the exhibition stand, along the path
which is set up as a short journey through
time: from the present into the future –
from technologies like Audi connect
and Audi ultra that are synonymous
with digital networking and lightweight
automobile construction, all the way to
the Audi e-tron, the future models for
electric mobility. And the A2 concept,
a study that combines these innovative
technologies to provide a glimpse of the
mobility of tomorrow.
The artist is familiar with visions, and
is especially well versed with big pro-
ductions: “Showcasing cars, particularly
in ways such as this, is in keeping with
the times. When I look around, I’m
impressed!” She is referring to the light
Inside the Audi Ring:
b ringing the car to
life – the successful
presentation of a brand.
The Audi Ring – a magnet for visitors at the
IAA in Frankfurt.
The Audi Ring –
facts and fi gures
Overall size: 100 meters long,
70 meters wide, 12 meters high
Exhibition area: 6,000 square meters
Construction time: approx. two months ,
250 assemblers at work each day
PHOTOS | OLIVER SOULAS/LAIF
Visitors closely examined even the
fi nest details.