Audi 2014 Annual Report Download - page 149

BASIS OF THE AUDI GROUP
STRATEGY
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// TOP IMAGE POSITION AND CUSTOMER MIX
A strong brand and a positive image are key success factors for
a premium car manufacturer. It is vitally important to have a
corresponding customer mix – for example in terms of average
age, values and price acceptance – in addition to high image
ratings. We aim to keep improving these factors and steadily
enhance our high-quality, innovative product portfolio in order to
delight customers and tie them emotionally to the Audi brand.
An array of national and international awards has already con-
firmed the appeal and popularity of the brand with the Four
Rings.
For example, Audi captured a total of eight top places in the
“Quality” category in the AUTO BILD reader poll “The best
brands in all classes.” The trade publication polled more than
70,000 readers for their opinion on quality, design and value
for money in a total of 13 vehicle categories.
We also received two further awards for our motorsport
achievements and the high resale value of our vehicles
(AUTO BILD, issue 9/2014, p. 62–72).
The Audi brand won an impressive tenth successive award in
the annual image report conducted by the renowned trade
publication AUTO ZEITUNG. For this poll, over 20,000 readers
rated 45 different car brands. Audi was their choice in the
categories “Cars with good build quality,” “Builds progressive
cars,” “Successful in motorsports,” “Appealing brand” and
“Quality of cars has improved” (AUTO ZEITUNG, issue 6/2014,
p. 98–104).
Internationally too, the Audi brand received a large number of
awards in the 2014 fiscal year.
In the “World Car of the Year 2014” award, for example, the
new Audi A3 brought Audi its second overall win in the ten-
year history of this prestigious award. The premium compact
model won over a jury comprising 69 international trade jour-
nalists (www.wcoty.com/web/).
Furthermore, the new Audi A3 Sportback g-tron achieved a top-
three placing in the “World Green Car” category
(www.wcoty.com/web/media_release.asp?release=92&year=
2014).
The “Best Cars 2014” reader poll conducted by the Chinese
edition of the magazine auto motor und sport brought Audi
yet more success. The brand with the Four Rings came away
with eight awards, more than any other brand. The Audi A6L
topped the poll in the “Upper Midsize” and “Local Upper Midsize”
categories, while the Audi Q5 impressed the magazine’s readers
as best “Local SUV & Offroader.” Audi also took first place in
the brand ratings, winning the “Reliable cars,” “Environmentally
friendly cars,” “Good customer service,” “Good value for money”
and “High resale value” categories (www.philstar.com/motoring/
2014/03/12/1299715/audi-wins-multiple-awards-february).
The Ducati brand also received a number of awards in the past
fiscal year.
The traditional Italian manufacturer came away from the
“Motorcycle of the Year 2014” awards with an impressive total of
five prizes. This reflected the choice of over 45,000 readers of
the trade magazine MOTORRAD. The Ducati Multistrada and
Ducati Diavel topped their respective categories. The Ducati 1199
and 899 Panigale finished second and third in the “Sportbike”
category. The Ducati Hypermotard achieved an excellent third
place among the “Enduros/Supermotos” (MOTORRAD, issue
08/2014, p. 126–133).
// LEADERS IN INNOVATION
Our ambition is to lead the way in both design and technology,
and we offer our customers sporty, high quality and innovative
products as well as intelligent mobility solutions. Our overriding
objective is to align the best technologies with the expectations
of our customers.
The past fiscal year again saw us step up our activities to bring
innovations to production maturity. As part of our goal to
delight customers, our priority areas are design, sophisticated
interiors and exteriors, efficient conventional and electrified
drive systems, lightweight construction, Audi connect and
piloted driving.
The successful Audi innovation strategy is again reflected in a
large number of patent applications.
2014 brought us another string of awards for our advanced
technologies and progressive design. Among others, we received
top honors in a total of five categories in the Car Connectivity
Award sponsored by the trade magazines auto motor und sport
and CHIP – Navigation Systems, Telephone, Sound Systems,
Entertainment/Multimedia and Connected Car. We received
particular acclaim for the Audi MMI Navigation plus, the Audi
phone box, the Bang & Olufsen Sound System in the Audi S3 and
the integration of the LTE mobile communications standard. In
addition, the new Audi TT won the title of best connected car
(auto motor und sport, issue 16/2014, p. 114–115).