Audi 2011 Annual Report Download - page 65

PHOTOS | PICTURE:SERVICE GMBH/AUDI AG
Fuel consumption and emission fi gures at the end of the Annual Report
The lion dances. It shakes
its body to the beat of the
drums, rises up on its hind
legs and jumps nimbly over
a line-up of tall posts. Then, opening
its mouth, it stares wide-eyed into the
crowd. Whoever catches its gaze can
consider themselves lucky, because in
China the lion is a traditional symbol of
power and dignity.
On this day, the lion gazes at
everyone. That’s because the young
acrobats beneath the colorful costume
are curious to know who they have in
front of them. This morning, 20 SUVs
in Samoa Orange are parked in front of
the Wong Fei Hung school of kung fu,
where the acrobats are learning China’s
oldest martial art. The Audi Q3 Trans
China Tour 2011 is making a stop in the
southern Chinese city of Foshan.
It is the 12th day of a tour that knows
no equal. The Q3 fl eet is traveling some
5,700 kilometers through China. On
board are car journalists from all over
the world. Together, they will explore
the intricacies of the country that for
years has been the most important
growth market in the automotive
industry. The breathtaking statistics
are well-known, but “seeing one time is
better than hearing a hundred times,”
as one Chinese proverb goes. And
what better way to do so than actually
getting behind the wheel? After all,
experience is only gained by driving.
The tour – organized as four one-
week stages with four legs each and
a visit to the Audi plant in Changchun
in northeastern China – is a journey
through a country full of dynamism
and contrasts. The tour offi cially
began on October 16, 2011, in the
capital, Beijing. From there, the fi rst
stage covered over 2,078 kilometers
to Shanghai, through the port city
of Qingdao, in which remnants of its
German colonial heritage can still be
seen today, and the former capital,
Nanjing. From the economic metropolis
of Shanghai, the second stage covered
1,925 kilometers to Shenzhen,
near Hong Kong. On the way, tour
participants passed through Hangzhou,
called “Heaven on Earth” by the
Chinese, and Xiamen, which looks and
feels like a city on the Mediterranean.
The third stage began in the former
British Crown colony 835 kilometers
away, passed through the industrial
region of the Pearl River Delta, and
continued on to China’s famous natural
wonder, the karst mountains of Guilin.
From there, the fourth stage took
participants past the future production
site of Foshan back to Shenzen.
For the drivers, it is not only the
country that is an experience, but
also the traffi c. Of course, there are
traffi c regulations in force in China,
but not everyone pays attention to
them. At night, many cars drive with
“The Q3 makes driving fun under any conditions.”
For the drivers, it is not
only the country that
is an experience,
but also the traffi c.
Rinaldo Capello