Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi Press Conference, North American International Auto Show, Detroit, Jan 13, 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, the Audi allroad shooting brake. Isn’t this a beautiful car?

For an engineer, it is one of the truly great moments to come on stage here in Detroit and present a brand-new concept car.

A car that is unique and path-finding in many ways, a car that combines core values of Audi coming from TT, quattro and allroad. This concept car has the potential to impress customers around the globe.

The Audi allroad shooting brake is a two-door compact sports car in a new look. Measuring 4.2 meters in length and 1.85 meters in width, the Audi allroad shooting break has a powerful road stance. It’s a crossover for all roads and tracks, for everyday driving pleasure. It tells you about the evolution of the car – nothing less. Let me give you three examples.

1. The evolution of Audi design: If you look at its quattro allroad chassis and its shooting brake share, you get an idea of what the new Audi TT will look like, the third generation of our successful compact sports car. The interior features a very emotional and high-quality dashboard that gives a preview to the TT, light-weight seat shells, a flexible center console based on shift-by-wire and a multi-functional steering wheel that allows for sporty handling.

2. The evolution of human-machine interface (HMI) and operating systems: Audi has been a pathfinder in these areas – for many years. The HMI systems of this concept car are similar to the new Audi TT interior as we presented it at the International CES in Las Vegas.

We created a virtual cockpit, fully digital and optimally driver-focused. It offers an even enhanced system performance and brilliant graphics. Drivers will experience unique handling comfort and zero distraction – and this is very important.

3. The evolution of drivetrain technology: The Audi allroad shooting brake comes with an impressive 300 kW drivetrain, equivalent to 408 hp system performance and a torque of 650 Nm. With its quattro all-wheel drive, this car is another demonstration of how powerful Audi plug-in hybrids are.

It combines a 2.0 l TFSI engine at 215 kW or 288 hp with two electric motors at 40 kW respectively 85 kW. By the way, the 85 kW motor is located at the rear axe.

When the rear motor teams up with the front engine, the Audi allroad shooting brake turns into an Audi e-tron quattro.

With only 4.6 sec from 0 to 100, its alternative drive technology offers the same level of performance you may expect from every other Audi.

And even more: it takes efficiency to a new level. The electric drive allows for a range of 50 km.

In the European cycle, the Audi allroad shooting brake has a consumption of only 1.9 liters/100km which is equivalent to a mileage of 130 mpg. These performance indicators are clearly a benchmark for efficiency.

In my view, ladies and gentlemen, any kind of future mobility will need to be efficient, sustainable, connected and multi-varied.

Audi will offer a number of drivetrain technologies in parallel: From high-tech combustion engines to e-gas engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electrics. At Audi, the future of mobility is already there. It is the daily business for my team of more than 10.000 engineers worldwide.

Our customers expect innovative solutions that support their connected lifestyle. Therefore, we partner with start-up companies and leading players of the electronics industry.

Among others, we focus on synchronizing the innovation loops of the automotive and the electronics industry. That’s how we keep pace with the short development and product life cycles

in electronics. As an example, one of our focus areas is to making sure that our solutions are upgradeable.

When German precision engineering meets Silicon Valley creativity, you get this unique kind of mobility experience only Audi can offer. Thanks to this partnership , our cars will become truly mobile devices. Watch out for more to come.

Thank you.