Audi 2012 Annual Report Download - page 140

143
Management Report
140 Audi Group
140 Structure
142 Strategy
148 Shares
149 Disclosures required under
takeover law
150 System of remuneration for
the Supervisory Board and
Board of Management
151 Corporate management
declaration
151 Business and underlying
situation
173 Financial performance
indicators
176 Social and ecological aspects
190 Risks, opportunities
and outlook
201 Disclaimer
Mission: “We delight customers worldwide”
The Audi brand has placed evoking customer delight worldwide at the very heart of its strategy,
as the key component of its mission. The brand values sportiness, progressiveness and sophisti-
cation are convincingly embodied by the products of the Audi brand. In addition to supplying
technologically advanced, innovative automobiles, it aims to generate customer delight in a
wide variety of other ways. The Audi brand has defined its understanding of customer delight in
greater detail in the following four areas of action, which it examines, formulates and substan-
tiates as part of an ongoing process:
– We define innovation
– We create experiences
– We live responsibility
– We shape Audi
We define innovation
The Audi brand has set itself the task of offering its customers sporty, high-quality and innovative
vehicles and mobility solutions. That ambition is expressed in the brand essence “Vorsprung
durch Technik” and is emphasized by the clear, distinctive design idiom. Important technologies
that will play a key role in the future, such as electric drive systems, lightweight construction
and connectivity are brought to production maturity.
All activities involving electric mobility are bracketed together and developed under the Audi
e-tron name.
Lightweight technology, too, enjoys a special status at the brand with the four rings. Audi has
played a pioneering role in this area ever since the introduction of the Audi Space Frame (ASF) in
1994. Its solutions for paving the way for lighter vehicles have been gradually refined ever since.
The name Audi ultra headlines this approach. Vehicle weights are steadily being reduced thanks
to intelligent combinations of materials which include aluminum, carbon fiber-reinforced poly-
mers (CFRP), modern steel alloys and magnesium. For instance, the new Audi A3 Sportback is up
to 90 kilograms lighter than its predecessor model.
Reflecting the increasing connectivity and digitalization of our society, the Company uses the
umbrella term Audi connect to group together all functions that connect the driver with the
Internet, the car and the world around him or her. As well as trailblazing assistance and info-
tainment functions, driver-friendly Internet and smartphone applications are integrated into
the vehicle.
We create experiences
The Company aims to create special, positive experiences to delight its customers time and time
again. Modern sales concepts such as Audi City, the cyberstore for major urban centers, are part
of this approach. The first location was opened in July 2012 in London, close to Piccadilly Circus;
the compact premises allow the growing model range to be presented complete with all color
and equipment combinations, for customers to experience individually. Following the opening of
the second Audi City in Beijing in January 2013, the concept is now to be rolled out in other
mega cities in order to generate delight among potential customers for the Audi brand.
The Audi brand can also be experienced close up at exclusive events staged in German cities,
which in 2012 included the Audi Classic Open Air Festival in Berlin and the Hamburg Stadtpark
Revival historic car race.
Emotion-packed moments are also provided by the Audi driving experience, with its various driving
and safety training events acting as a gateway to memorable experiences of the Audi brand. To
make the range even more attractive for our customers, the new Audi driving experience center
is currently being constructed in Neuburg an der Donau on a 47-hectare site.
The new car collection facilities at the Audi Forums in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm offer our cus-
tomers another emotional highlight. In addition to receiving insights into the historical progress
of the brand with the four rings, customers learn all about the sheer precision and care that goes
into the making of an Audi brand car. Accompanied by a customer relationship manager through-
out the entire day, customers are given a personal tour of the factory, making the occasion a
truly memorable one.