Audi has been making some considerably impressive cars for decades, but is it a luxury brand?
Audi certainly does fit nicely into the scale of luxury cars, even if they’re not located at the top of said scale. Their vehicles are almost always high-performance, sumptuously equipped, and often come with a substantially large price tag.
Read on to learn more about Audi and their place in the vast motoring world.
Certifiable Luxury
Technically, a car doesn’t have to necessarily do much to be classified as a luxury vehicle. It merely has to offer amenities, performance, and features that go above and beyond the standard expectation.
Owing to that definition, it’s possible today to find a ‘luxury’ variant being offered by almost every car manufacturer on the planet. It’s usually at the top end of their offerings and comes with the highest specification or largest engine.
Although that definition has skewed the image ever so slightly, there are still many cars today that are undoubtedly classed as luxurious. These include the likes of Rolls Royce, Bentley, and the super- or hypercar brands, Lamborghini, and Ferrari.
However, there is a small group of semi-exclusive European brands that have maintained their luxury status for many decades, despite not topping the charts. Coincidentally, they’re all German: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and of course, Audi.
While these vehicles don’t rank as high as a Rolls Royce, or as low as a Hyundai Genesis, for example, they’re comfortably sat within the luxury midpoint. They feature a plethora of comfort, safety, and entertainment systems that you won’t find in entry-level vehicles, and they’re often considerably expensive.
Audi’s only scale is considerably expansive, with a dramatically long line up that has been perfected by decades in the business. Their offerings start low, with the minuscule A1, and run all the way up to the alpha Audi – the R8.
The Audi A1 isn’t available in North America, but it serves as the starting point into the Audi lineup. You could purchase one for around twenty-five thousand dollars if they were.
At the opposite end of the spectrum sits the Audi R8, an exclusive and dramatically powerful sports coupe. This particular vehicle could run you up a bill of well over two-hundred thousand dollars, clearly highlighting the diversity of Audi’s spectrum.
Audi Other Cars Can’t Compete
Audi has the pleasure of receiving consistently positive reviews in the motoring world, release after release. It’s not hard to understand why when you learn that their legacy and expertise stretches back over one hundred years.
The company was first founded with humble beginnings, way back in 1909. They started small, manufacturing their first vehicles within a couple of years, but they typically remained suited to exclusive builds, or sporting configurations.
However, at the start of the 1920s, Audi put forward their idea for a mass-produced road vehicle. It was a successful venture, and the Audi Type K became the first production car presented by a German manufacturer.
Audi’s boom began, and although they experienced some mid-century issues like many other organizations around the world, they ultimately flourished. Today, Audi is estimated to be worth around fifty-five billion dollars and has almost one-hundred thousand employees on the books.
It’s one of the world’s leading brands and has a dominant presence in the motoring industry. The majority of Audi’s cars are tuned to perfection, sleek and mean-looking, with a specification list longer than your arm.
There’s no question that they’re luxury vehicles.
Exceeding Expectations
Audi doesn’t do things by halves when it comes to their modern-day vehicles, and even their smallest models are generously well-equipped. In their most expensive SUVs and saloons, technology and fine materials adorn every surface, and they often come with extensive customization options.
For example, if you were to pick up a 2021 Audi S8 saloon (starting at $130,000) you’d be near-spoilt for choice. It comes with a 563 horsepower engine, driven by a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8, with some intense pull.
The interior has been architected by ‘expert craftsmen’ and comes with sumptuous sports seats, and soft-touch and carbon fiber trim. There are night-vision camera systems, heated everything, a six-thousand dollar sound system, and so much more.
They also come with power outlets, dual-zone climate control, intuitive onboard computer systems, and heaps of storage. It’s definitely worth the investment, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better-equipped car.
That’s certainly what we’d define as a luxury vehicle.