“With our customer teams WRT and Saintéloc Racing, we have a strong package for this year’s Indianapolis 8 Hour. They are ready to give it everything in order to clinch a good result,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “The teams will be competing with a special livery on the cars that features a ‘stars and stripes’ design as a tribute to the USA.”

At the season opener of the 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Spa 24 Hours, Audi Sport Team WRT finished runner-up with Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts. Since then, Audi has been leading the manufacturers standings with a 15-point advantage. In America, the teams and drivers have the chance to further extend their brand’s lead at the second of three rounds in the only worldwide GT3 racing series. Vanthoor and Weerts, who recently became the overall champions of the GT World Challenge Europe, will again be competing with Audi Sport Team WRT in Indianapolis. They will share the cockpit with Christopher Mies. The sister car will be driven by Mattia Drudi, Robin Frijns and Nico Müller. Team WRT is no stranger to the race in Indianapolis. The team finished fourth in last year’s round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge at the venue.

Whether mechatronics technicians, IT specialists, or industrial business management assistants – Audi has been helping young people successfully launch their careers at its Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm sites for more than 70 years. This year, AUDI AG is once again welcoming numerous new members into the Audi family. At the Ingolstadt site, for example, 426 vocational trainees and 24 cooperative education students are starting their careers; in Neckarsulm, 268 vocational trainees and 18 cooperative education students are taking their first steps into the working world.

“Around 700 young people will be starting a new, exciting chapter in their lives in the coming days. This new beginning is one marked by anticipation and curiosity, but perhaps also a bit of anxiety about what will happen during the next three years. The Works Council and the youth and trainee representatives always have an open ear for the concerns of young Audi employees and are available to offer advice and support,” said Peter Mosch, chair of the General Works Council.

Today’s working world is undergoing a dynamic transformation process, and Audi is continuously aligning its training to the ever-changing requirements. As a result, young people at Audi have the opportunity to take on responsible tasks in future fields such as e-mobility or digitalization. This year, 66 of them are beginning a training program to become an IT specialist. IT specialists specializing in “digital connectivity,” for example, learn to help develop and optimize complex processes at the interface between IT and vehicle production, which will shape automotive manufacturing in the future.

“Our focus on career fields of the future begins during training. In this way, we help young people develop the elementary skills that will be crucial for tomorrow’s work right from the start,” noted Sabine Maaßen, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization at AUDI AG. Today, 25 percent of the vocational training programs at Audi are now focused on digitalization. In addition to “IT specialist specializing in digital connectivity,” good examples also include “IT specialist specializing in application development” and “digitalization management specialists.”

Audi is also taking a systematically digital approach to the way in which content is conveyed to trainees. Remote learning was enshrined in the training curriculum in a labor-management agreement that came into force on September 1.For this reason, all new trainees and students will receive laptops or tablets from Audi that will allow them to learn in a flexible manner even when they are not on the factory premises. In this context, the trainees will participate in guided digital teaching units or work on assignments independently via the Moodle learning platform. Depending on the training program, the aspiring Audi employees will be able to spend up to 20 percent of their program learning remotely. In general, however, training will continue to take place on site – both at the Audi Academy training center as well as the relevant job rotation stations throughout the plants.

In addition to vocational training, the premium manufacturer also offers cooperative education programs. In these programs, students apply the theoretical knowledge gained from classroom-based instruction in practical assignments at the company’s sites. Here, too, the brand with the four rings is training specialists early on in key future fields, with bachelor’s degree programs such as Electrical Engineering and Information Technology or master’s degree programs such as Robotics, Cognition, and Intelligence preparing students for the company’s progressive digitalization. This year, 42 young people are starting a cooperative education program at Audi.

Audi is tackling one of the greatest challenges in international motorsport, quite deliberately using a unique concept. The Audi RS Q e-tron has an electric powertrain with two motor-generator units (MGUs) from Formula E. While the vehicle is in motion, the high-voltage battery is charged by an energy converter consisting of the efficient TFSI engine from the DTM and another MGU. 

“The prototype of the Audi RS Q e-tron was created in around twelve months,” says Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for motorsport at Audi. The rollout on June 30th, 2021 in Neuburg an der Donau and the start on January 1, 2022 in Ha’il (Saudi Arabia) are separated by merely six months. “That’s a very short time to prepare for such a complex project. I cannot emphasize this often enough: The Audi RS Q-e-tron is the most sophisticated vehicle in terms of technology that Audi Sport has ever deployed in racing.”

Andreas Roos, Project Leader for all factory-backed motorsport activities, can only confirm that: “The Dakar is extremely challenging – even for a conventionally powered vehicle. With our powertrain concept, the challenge is distinctly greater. The chassis and suspension do not entail major differences, but we have a lot more components in the car that have to be not only high-performing, lightweight and functioning reliably under the extreme conditions of the Dakar. They also have to be attuned to each other perfectly and work together smoothly.” 

A conventionally powered Dakar vehicle features two major components: the internal combustion engine and the transmission. “In our Audi RS Q e-tron, we have an electric motor at the front axle, an electric motor at the rear axle, the high-voltage battery and the energy converter, consisting of another MGU and the TFSI engine from the DTM,” says Roos. “And each of these components, for instance, requires a dedicated cooling system. That means we have not only one cooling system in the car but as many as six, including the intercooler and air conditioning system for the driver and co-driver.” 

Packaging is another major issue with such a complex vehicle. “We had to make use of every centimeter to accommodate all the components in the car,” says Roos. That comes at the cost of ease of service. “For instance, changing the front-axle differential still takes a lot of time at the moment. That must be achievable faster at the Dakar and is one of the issues we’re currently working on under massive time pressure.” 

“The manufacturing plant in Győr is a key pillar of the Audi Group's international production network, making major contributions to the success of our Group with its efficient processes, attractive product range and excellent team. As a result, Audi Hungaria has gained an excellent reputation in the production of engines and electric drives in recent years, and will consistently keep on the path it has embarked on,” said Peter Kössler, Board Member for Production and Logistics of AUDI AG.

“As the world's foremost engine manufacturer, Audi Hungaria has nearly 30 years of experience in the production of efficient combustion engines, and as on 2018, we are now expanding into electric drives as well. The completion of our 40 millionth engine is yet more proof of our excellent performance. I am proud of the Audi Hungaria team. Their high level of professional expertise and dedication is what guarantees our preparedness for any future challenges,” added Alfons Dintner, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Hungaria.

Four-cylinder Otto engines made up the largest proportion of the 40 million engines made by Audi Hungaria, with over 19 million produced in total. Four-cylinder diesel engines took second place, with over 11 million units, while the six-cylinder Otto engine models made up almost 4.5 million units of the 40 million engines manufactured in Győr.

“This is the era of transitioning to electromobility, and we require cutting-edge technology, established professional expertise and a dedicated team to successfully take on the upcoming challenges. Here at Audi Hungaria, every factor is in place to guarantee our continued success. My team and I stand ready to produce the next 40 million engines, from Győr to the world,” said Robert Buttenhauser, Member of the Board of Directors of Audi Hungaria and Director for Engine Production.

In the spirit of electromobility, Audi Hungaria has been manufacturing electric drives for three years now, and is already making preparations to manufacture the next generation of electric motors. In the future, the electric powertrains for the Group’s purely electric models will be manufactured in Győr, and will be based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) platform developed in cooperation with Porsche. A 15,000-square-metre area has been set up in an existing production hall for manufacturing the new engines. 700 employees will be involved in the series production. In addition to powertrain production, a number of additional components such as stators and gearbox components for the new generation of e-motors will also be manufactured here.

The history of engine production at Audi Hungaria began in 1994, with a four-cylinder, five-valve unit. Its engine manufacturing portfolio has been continuously expanding since, with the introduction of new engine types such as CNG engines and electric drives. Audi Hungaria has now grown to become the largest engine manufacturer in the world. The company's employees manufacture almost two million engines annually for the Volkswagen Group's 38 vehicle factories worldwide. 

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com/