Audi and its slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik”: a statement of intent

Just as a brand’s logo hides a story behind it, the same is often true of a slogan or commercial phrase. In the case of Audi, the motto that has accompanied the four-rings brand for 50 years is “Vorsprung durch Technik”, which in English is translated as “Advancement through technology”. When this phrase was coined for advertising purposes, very few at the newly created Audi NSU headquarters could have imagined that this slogan would accompany the four-rings logo everywhere in the world.

The origin of the Audi slogan

Let us go back to the late 1960s. Auto Union GmbH and NSU Motorenwerke AG decided to merge in 1969, founding a new company headquartered in Neckarsulm. At that time, the merger gave rise to one of the most complete and varied model ranges, with very different technical concepts: small air-cooled engines for models such as the NSU Prinz, 4-cylinder engines with water cooling for the Audi 60 and Audi 100… not to mention the Wankel rotary engine of the legendary NSU Ro 80. And, of course, with different body design and transmission concepts too, including front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

To reflect this variety, Hans Bauer, head of the Marketing department at Audi NSU, created the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik”, which began to be used in the brand’s advertising brochures to introduce models such as the Audi 80, the Audi 100 and Audi 100 Coupé S, the Audi 50 and the aforementioned NSU Ro 80.

In the following years, the advertising department of Audi used several modified versions of the original motto. Among them, the messages “(Audi. A wonderful piece of technology”, or “Smooth driving with perfect technology”. But with the presentation of the Audi quattro in 1980, the original message regained even more strength. In 1984, it was even installed on a building near the Ingolstadt exit of the busy A9 motorway, the largest sign in Europe at the time. Between the Audi oval and the neon letters of the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik”, it weighed 11 tonnes and was lit by neon lights with a power of 7,500 watts.

The original Audi motto once again took centre stage at the press presentation of one of the brand’s most important models, the four-rings brand’s third generation of the Audi 80, which we can consider the predecessor of the Audi A4. Over the nearly 50 years since the slogan was created, Audi has stood out for a series of pioneering innovations, such as the first fully galvanised bodyshells, the application of aerodynamics and lightweight construction for greater efficiency, the development of direct-injection petrol and diesel engines, quattro four-wheel drive, and new lighting technologies with LED headlights and their subsequent evolutions…

Commitment to technological development

Today, Audi has been designated as the brand that will lead R&D within the reorganisation of the Volkswagen Group to meet the challenges facing the sector. For Audi, this means that the motto “Vorsprung durch Technik” will extend its scope, representing not only the pursuit of what is technically possible.

Audi’s strategy is to focus even more on what customers want and make it a reality, for which the brand is gradually transforming itself from a conventional vehicle manufacturer into a genuine provider of mobility services. Without ever losing its character as a premium brand, of course, and with the focus on electric mobility.

By way of example, of the 90,000 employees Audi has worldwide, the Technical Development division, headquartered in a complex of more than 33 hectares in Ingolstadt, employs around 9,000, to which must be added another 1,700 in Neckarsulm. Plus those who work at the development centres the brand has in Győr (Hungary), Beijing (China) and San José Chiapa (Mexico).

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