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For Audi Sport customer racing, the model has been a successful basis of its global customer racing program since the end of 2016. “This title reflects the commitment of our customers in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “Our thanks and congratulations go to them because only they made this success possible.”

While customers around the world still relied on the first generation of the production-based racing touring car, Audi Sport introduced the Audi RS 3 LMS gen II in the 2021 season and entered it in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup together with Comtoyou Racing. If all vehicle entries worldwide are added up, the figure comes to 842 individual starts last year. In the process, the teams clinched 259 podium places in 344 races, including 86 victories. Since 2017, Audi Sport customer racing customers have achieved a total of 72 title successes in various series with the up to 250 kW (340 hp) touring car, including 18 in the past season alone.

The homologation of the first generation will be retained so that customer teams can continue to use this race car in the future. At the same time, the Audi RS 3 LMS gen II is to increasingly contribute to the great track record of the entire model line from 2022. After Audi Sport customer racing started production of the new race car in October, 23 units have already been delivered to customer teams by the end of 2021.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

For Ratinho Junior, Governor of the state of Paraná, “the announcement that Audi will resume production in the São José dos Pinhais plant is the high point of a positive trend in the state of Paraná. The state is quickly recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic with a rapidly growing economy and employment. We are proud to be Audi’s home in South America. Because of that, we have achieved a lot in recent decades.”

Johannes Roscheck, Managing Director and CEO of Audi do Brasil, says, “We are happy to be able to announce that production will resume in the São José dos Pinhais plant, the only Audi factory in South America. Even in difficult times, the company has always worked to make national manufacturing possible because we believe in Brazil’s potential and, at the same time, we want our customers’ faith in the brand to grow.”

The Audi Q3, with a 2.0 Liter TFSI engine in both chassis variants, will be produced on the same assembly line where the previous generation of the SUV was built in 2019.

Electrification strategy: ultra-fast charging stations

Along with confirming local production, Audi do Brasil and its dealerships also took the opportunity to make a second announcement: it was about the electrification strategy in Brazil. Audi and its dealers have joined forces to expand Brazil’s ultra-fast charging station infrastructure.

Starting in 2022, more than R$20 million are to be invested to install 150 kW DC charging stations in almost every Audi dealership in Brazil. These charging stations will be used to charge, for instance, the fully electric Audi e-tron from 0% to 80% in less than 25 minutes.

The history of local production

The history of Audi production in Brazil began in 1999 with the dedication of the São José dos Pinhais plant in Paraná, where the first generation of the Audi A3 was produced until 2006.

In 2012, the Brazilian government created Inovar-Auto, a subsidy program for technological innovation and strengthening the production chain for motor vehicles. Consequently, Audi do Brasil decided to manufacture in Brazil again. The company invested around €150 million in the Paraná plant for that purpose.

Production began in 2015 with the A3 Sedan – the only Audi model in the world with a flex-fuel engine to date. It runs on either gasoline, ethanol, or both fuels together. In 2016, production was expanded to include the Audi Q3. The SUV was built until 2019, when its life cycle came to an end. Production of the Audi A3 Sedan was likewise discontinued with the end of its life cycle in 2020.

After a hiatus of a bit more than a year from late 2020 until mid-2022, Audi will manufacture two models in the Paraná plant again: the new Audi Q3 and the Audi Q3 Sportback.

The Brazilian Audi Q3 and Audi Q3 Sportback

The Brazilian Audi Q3 and Audi Q3 Sportback will be equipped with the reliable 4 cylinder gas engine 2.0 TFSI with direct injection and turbocharging, which provides 350 Nm of torque and 231 PS of power. For the first time, Audi will build a model in Brazil with quattro technology, a transverse engine, and eight-step tiptronic that enables smooth, fast gear shifts.

The Audi Q3 has become the gold standard in its segment since it was introduced in February 2020. It became the best-selling Audi in Brazil in its very first year. Both versions embody the Q series’ new design language. It was initially presented in Brazil with the Audi Q8, a completely new brand model. A highlight in the front view is the singleframe with an octagon design.

The interior design follows the trend of Audi’s top models. Like the A6, A7, and Q8, the new Audi Q3 is equipped with the new MMI concept, in which the 8.8 inch touchscreen is ergonomically integrated into the instrument panel and tilted ten degrees toward the driver. Shift paddles on the steering wheel make it possible to change driving modes manually.

The spatial layout inside the Audi Q3 is highly variable. The rear seats can be moved forward 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) in the Q3 and 130 millimeters (5.1 inches) in the Q3 Sportback as standard equipment.

The luggage compartment carries 530 liters (18.7 cubic feet) in both chassis variants, making it the highest volume in this class. Folding down the seat backs increases that capacity to 1,525 liters (53.9 cubic feet) in the Q3 and 1,400 liters (49.5 cubic feet) in the Q3 Sportback.

The 2021 season began with a world premiere: On February 5, Audi Sport customer racing presented the second generation of the RS 3 LMS, whose predecessor with 180 units is still the brand’s most successful racing model within a single vehicle generation. On June 11, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 set a record with the 138th example of the second generation. It overtook the predecessor model, which was produced 137 times. And in December 2021, the 400th GT sports car in total for motorsport left the factory hall in Biberach at Audi’s Neckarsulm site. In addition to the successful GT3 models, this count also includes the near-production GT4 sports car, which has now been produced 100 times, and the GT2 variant. With the start of production of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, which debuted in July, and the Audi RS 3 LMS gen II, Audi Sport customer racing has realized two model launches in 2021. These figures prove how firmly the Audi Sport brand is anchored in global customer racing. The unit sales and market shares underscore that the GT sports cars and the touring cars with the four rings are among the most popular products in global competition. At the same time, the successes in motorsport have a positive impact on the production cars that form the basis of all four race cars from Audi Sport customer racing.

The program’s sporting record is equally positive: Customers have won a total of 58 titles in the 2021 season to date on the four continents of America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Further title decisions for this season will be made by February 2022. “Our thanks go to the many dedicated and loyal customer teams that run our race cars from Canada to South America, throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “They are the backbone of the program and the guarantors of our sporting successes.”

Outstanding championship results in GT3 racing include five title victories by Team WRT in the European and two more by MPC in the Australian offshoot of the Fanatec GT World Challenge. Also noteworthy are the ADAC GT Masters title win by Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, first place by Audi Sport Italia in the Sprint and Endurance Championships in Italy and the title victory of Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute in Chinese endurance racing. A total of 27 titles – from driver championships to team and junior classifications – went to the GT3 model with the four rings. Over the course of 246 races, the sports car has achieved 198 podium finishes worldwide, including 79 victories. Two endurance successes stand out from the balance: the overall success of Audi Sport Team Saintéloc at the Indianapolis 8 Hour in October – a round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge – and of Team Rutronik Racing by TECE at the Sebring 24 Hours, the finale of the 24H Series in November.

In the young category of GT2 racing, the Audi R8 LMS GT2 also recorded top results straight away. The driver and team titles in GT America went to GMG Racing. In the Pro-Am classification of the GT2 European Series, High Class Racing prevailed. The year’s tally includes 13 victories and a total of 20 podium places in 16 races, cementing Audi’s reputation as a competent supplier in the broad world of GT racing.

The GT4 version of the Audi R8 LMS was more popular than ever before especially in European racing series. In addition to ten championship titles, the production-based model contributed significantly to the track record with 99 podium finishes worldwide, including 43 victories, in 199 races. Notable among these was Saintéloc Racing’s fourth GT4 title in a row, this time in the GT4 European Series. The all-female Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing team recorded a 24-hour class victory at the Nürburgring this year.

Audi remains top in touring car racing as well: The first generation of the entry-level RS 3 LMS showed top form with 17 titles. Among others, Audi won the TCR New Zealand with Track Tec Racing and the TCR Australia with MPC Bostik Racing for the first time. The successor model also won its first laurels when Comtoyou Team Audi Sport won the Trophy classification in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup. Both model generations together achieved 86 victories and a total of 258 podium places in 342 races this year. For the sixth time since 2017, a customer team also won a 24-hour race with an RS 3 LMS: the class victory at Sebring went to the Belgian private team AC Motorsport.

For the fourth year in succession, the world’s only Audi one-make cup rounds off the motorsport program. Rüdiger Seyffarth organizes and promotes the Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup. For the second time, Robin Rogalski emerged as the best driver from the competition with identical race cars. 17 different drivers collected points in three classifications over the course of ten races at the wheel of the production-based Audi R8 LMS GT4.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

Around 5,300 spot welds are required to join the parts that make up the body of an Audi A6. Up until now, production staff use ultrasound to manually monitor the quality of resistance spot welding (abbreviated WPS in German) processes on the basis of random analyses. However, experts from the fields of manufacturing, innovation management, digitalization planning, and IT are currently testing a much smarter way of determining the quality of spot welds at the Neckarsulm site. As part of the “WPS Analytics” pilot project, the team led by Mathias Mayer and Andreas Rieker is using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect quality anomalies automatically and in real time.

Michael Haeffner, Head of Delivery Management Digitalization for Production and Logistics at AUDI AG, is satisfied with the projects at the site: “As a pilot plant for digital production and logistics at the Volkswagen Group, our goal is to test and develop digital solutions for vehicle manufacturing right through to their use in series production. With the use of AI, we are testing an important key technology here that will make Audi and the location fit for the future.”

The underlying algorithm, its graphical user interface (dashboard), and an application for more in-depth quality analyses are currently being piloted in Audi A6/A7 car body manufacturing at the Neckarsulm site. The aim of the project is for the algorithm to evaluate close to 100 percent of the set welding points during body manufacturing in the future. The long-term vision is that in the future, the quality of welding processes can be controlled automatically and continuously optimized.

Mathias Mayer has already been working on the use of AI in Audi production for five years and views the use of “WPS Analytics” as an exciting opportunity: “The algorithm serves as a blueprint for further applications in connected manufacturing. In addition, it allows us to make advancements to existing digital solutions, such as predictive maintenance.”

Rollout of the solution planned across the Volkswagen Group

Audi is taking the lead in advancing this promising use case as part of the Volkswagen Group’s Industrial Cloud. This system brings together production data from the group’s factories around the world in a single, powerful digital platform. The primary objective is to increase efficiency and cut costs. Each connected site can download applications for its machines, tools, and systems directly from the Industrial Cloud (similar to an app store) and thereby manufacture its products even more efficiently. Once the “WPS Analytics” algorithm and dashboard have been successfully deployed in Neckarsulm, the plan is to roll them out to numerous factories across the group. The first synergies have already been achieved, as colleagues at the Volkswagen factory in Emden are also relying on algorithm-controlled optimization for resistance spot welding – with the lessons learned from both projects flowing into the Industrial Cloud across all sites.

Another application that uses an algorithm to make processes in Audi production more efficient is scheduled to be deployed in series production at the Ingolstadt press plant at the beginning of next year – in this case, artificial intelligence will be used to detect quality defects such as small cracks in the car body. This project also serves as a use case for the Automotive Initiative 2025 (AI25). Audi's ultimate goal is to make production and logistics more flexible and efficient through digitalization. Innovative technologies are already helping employees and relieving them of strenuous physical tasks and monotonous manual tasks.