In the case of the overall external situation is not optimistic, the report card of major luxury brands in China has repeatedly climbed, making China the world's largest luxury car market today.
As the luxury brand that understands Chinese best, nearly half of Audi's global sales this year also come from the Chinese market, in order to continue to consolidate its brand influence in China, Audi has fully shifted the strategic focus of the brand to China, and the importance of the Chinese market has reached an unprecedented height.
At this year's Guangzhou International Auto Show, Audi made its first D+ class flagship sedan, the new Audi A8L Horch Edition, for its global debut in China, and its technology, technology and quality have reached an unprecedented height, which is the latest achievement of Audi once again digging deep into the needs of the Chinese market.
In the name of the founder, the king returns
Most people must know Audi's famous four-ring brand logo, but few people know the story behind the four-ring, in fact, behind the four-ring contains a history of the entrepreneurship of Audi founder August Horch.
As early as 1899, the 31-year-old August Horch founded the Horch car under his own name and infused the brand car concept from the beginning: in any case, only powerful, high-quality luxury cars are produced.
However, in 1909, Horch himself had to leave the self-reliance portal because of financing problems, and finally founded the Audi automobile in 1919, and Audi is derived because "Horch" means "listening" in German and "listening" in Latin is "Audi".
It can be seen that Horch himself still hopes that Audi and Horch Cars can have the same brand genes: insist on listening to the voice of consumers and paying attention to the needs of consumers, which is the main reason why Audi is popular around the world today.
Although the founder is long gone, but Horch Automobile relied on the enterprising brand spirit, in the twenties of the last century to develop Germany's first mass production of 8-cylinder engine, and then installed in the 1926 Berlin Motor Show released on the Horch 303 Pullman, and this car at that time in the German top luxury car market, completely called a milestone existence, so that Horch Automobile also established the brand image of the top luxury car.
In the following time, Horch Motors also launched the blockbuster Horch 670, because it was equipped with a 6.0L V12 engine that is rare even now, which was the benchmark among the top luxury cars in that era.
Fast forward to the 1930s, in order to cope with the Great Depression at that time, Audi found Horch, DKW, Wanderer and three other companies, and established the Auto Union Company in Kennez, which covered all models in the German market at that time, which is also the origin of the current Audi four-ring logo.
And the top luxury car brand to join the Holsy Car, also re-sorted its vehicle model, the famous Horch 8 series model was born, of which the Horch 830 BL was also used as a parade car for the de Gaulle liberation ceremony in Paris, so that the reputation of the Horch brand quickly resounded throughout Europe, becoming a high-class famous product at that time, compared to the Mercedes-Benz, which were still two independent brands at that time, more high-end, enough to sit on an equal footing with Rolls-Royce.
It was only because of the improper jurisdiction and transformation after World War II, coupled with the repeated changes of ownership of the Automobile Alliance, which eventually led to the gradual sleep of Horsie Motors in the long river of time.
With the rapid development of Chinese society, the current Demand for large-space luxury executive cars in the Chinese market is no less than that of Europe at that time, so in order to meet the strong demand for ultra-luxury cars by Chinese consumers, the new Audi A8L Horch version, which carries the founder's enterprising spirit of "pursuing the ultimate", has returned to the ultra-luxury camp.
Reinvent the flagship within the flagship
The flagship car represents a model with the brand's most advanced technology and the highest manufacturing process, so the new Audi A8L Horch edition is not a simple A8L upgrade model, but the ultimate masterpiece created in the name of the founder.
When you first see the new Audi A8L Horch version, you'll notice its noticeable long wheelbase body. Compared with the ordinary version of the new Audi A8L, the wheelbase of the new Audi A8L Horch version has been lengthened by 130mm, and the length has been increased to the rear seat, which can allow rear passengers to enjoy the highest level of seating space, highlighting the respected status and social status of the passengers.
Not only that, in order to allow the owner of the new Audi A8L Horch edition to experience an exclusive sense of prestige, a large number of chrome trim pieces were used to enhance the sophistication, and the Horch word nameplate was added to the fenders, C-pillars, and trunk parts to show a special identity.
However, the most noteworthy thing is that the 20-inch wheels also use a large disc design that pays tribute to the first generation of Audi A8 W12 models, with the "H" logo in the center of the wheel center, showing a special noble temperament.
In addition, in order to meet the needs of customers for personalized customization, the new Audi A8L Horch edition has added two new colors of oak green and rain cloud gray in the body color, plus legendary black with foil silver, foil silver with legendary black, and three two-color body color schemes of sky blue with aurora blue, which can fully give the new Audi A8L Horch edition the peak beauty.
As a pioneer of LED lights, Audi's advanced lighting technology is also well known, and the new Audi A8L Horch edition also offers new digital matrix LED headlights, as well as newly designed digital OLED taillights.
Through technology similar to video projectors, dynamic lighting, anti-glare, directional light source and other functions can be realized, which greatly improves visibility and driving safety, and also ensures that it does not interfere with the normal passage of others.
As for the D+ Class, the most important thing is still in the car, the moment you enter the new Audi A8L Horch version of the car, you can immediately feel the luxury of all parts, large wooden decorations, seats and door panels with diamond-shaped stitching, B&O high-end audio with lifting acoustic prisms.....
The most gratifying thing in the car is the two extremely comfortable independent seats in the rear row, with ultra-long legroom while also having twice the cushioning padding and a full set of massage functions, waves, circulation, pulse, stretching, relaxation, shoulder, activation, awakening 8 different massage modes and the unique rear foot massage function of the same level, allowing you to enjoy the journey with a better posture.
Of course, in this era of technology supremacy, Audi, which is good at technology, will always pursue leading forward-looking intelligence, based on MIB 3+ Asterix's new Audi interconnection platform to create the Audi Connect interconnection system, can achieve the top human-computer interaction experience, in addition to digital virtual cockpit, full-touch MMI operating system, intelligent automatic parking system, driver assistance system and other intelligent technologies to lead your digital travel.
Finally, don't ignore Mr. Horch's strong power, so the new Audi A8L Horch edition is equipped with a 3.0TFSI engine with 48V light mixing technology, the maximum power of the system is 250kW, the maximum torque is 500N·m, and the engine has intelligent start-stop, energy recovery and intelligent coasting functions, so that performance and energy consumption are both.
In addition, in terms of driving experience, the new Audi A8L Horch Edition is also equipped with the iconic quattro full-time four-wheel drive system, 8-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission and the standard four-wheel steering function of the whole series, making the vehicle more flexible in various road conditions, so the new Audi A8LHorch version is a flagship perfect experience whether it is "on" or "sitting".
Red dot observation:
In our view, the return of the new Audi A8L Horch edition not only deeply interprets Audi's rich achievements in technology and luxury, but also has the capital to face ultra-luxury brands such as Maybach and Bentley, becoming another new choice in addition to them.
More importantly, it can boost audi's brand height, set a new standard for Audi in the next era of smart cars, and reveal the tone of future trends with classic design, which is where Audi's persistent "enterprising gene" lies.