Market launch of the Audi allroad quattro on 12 May
quattro production share up to more than 30 percent
Over 800,000 Audi quattro models manufactured to date
Ingolstadt/Neckarsulm (ots)
- Cross-reference: photo was sent via satellite and is available
at:
http://recherche.newsaktuell.de/galerie.htx?type=obsThe Audi allroad quattro, the latest addition to the quattro family, is to be launched on the market on 12 May. The price range starts at EUR 40,350 for the allroad quattro 2.5 TDI (132 kW/180 bhp); the allroad quattro 2.7 T (184 kW/250 bhp) with 6-speed gearbox and Low Range transmission costs EUR 46,630. This model is also available with the 5-speed tiptronic.
"The Audi allroad quattro combines the comfort of a saloon car with outstanding off-road performance, and is the present culmination of our quattro success story, which dates back 20 years", declared Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, in the run-up to the international press presentation in Schladming, Austria. Paefgen: "The allroad quattro will give a further boost to the advance of the quattro concept." The annual production capacity for this model, which is manufactured at the Neckarsulm plant, is around 20,000 units.
The demand for Audi models with permanent four-wheel drive has been growing rapidly for the last 20 years: quattro models accounted for an increased 30.9 percent of total production in the 1st quarter of 2000 (1st quarter of 1999: 21.5 percent). This is equivalent to 50,860 of a total of 164,846 vehicles manufactured in this period. The most popular quattro was the Audi A6. 20,261 A6 quattro models were built in the first three months, an increase of 39.6 percent.
Audi has produced over 800,000 quattro vehicles since the quattro was launched on the market 20 years ago. Ten percent of all Audi models were supplied with permanent four-wheel drive five years ago. Last year more than one quarter of all Audi vehicles sold were quattro models. In 1999, every fifth newly registered car with four-wheel drive in Germany was an Audi. The 1,000,000th Audi quattro is set to leave the production line this year.
Audi is an international developer and manufacturer of high-quality cars. The company produces in Germany, Hungary, Brazil, China and South Africa. In 1999, Audi sold around 635,000 cars and produced more than 1.2 million engines, bringing in sales revenues in excess of DM 29.6 billion. The Audi Group has around 47,000 employees.
Note to editors: A photo of the Audi allroad quattro can be obtained through "obs" (dpa).
Communication: Corporate and Finance Joachim Cordshagen, Tel: ++49 (0) 841 89 36340 or ++49 (0) 172 910 44 68 e-mail: joachim.cordshagen@audi.de
Communication: Product and Technology Rudolf Schiller, Tel: ++49 (0) 841 89 32260 or ++49 (0) 172 8968319 e-mail: rudolf.schiller@audi.de
Original-Content von: Audi AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell