June 3, 2010
Audi’s rally at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum 2010 was a huge success.
Even at the onset of this sustainable mobility forum held in Rio de Janeiro, the brand already secured two grand wins. Audi garnered the overall victory in the eco rally with its lightweight model—the A5, and the high-performance Audi e-tron electric sports car clinched the coveted design award.
Not to be outclassed, the standard version A3 1.6 TDI also gave a stellar performance as the brand’s third entry in the Challenge Bibendum.
These exceptional achievements affirm Audi’s strategy for the future shape of mobility.
With a distance of 350 kilometres and a field of close to eighty vehicles, the race was the first highlight of the five-day forum as it was the main showcase event. Audi’s lightweight A5 dominated this field and conquered the circuit.
In the individual categories, this A5 prototype also gained top honours on CO2 emissions, overall emissions, efficiency, acceleration and handling. Weighing roughly 1,310 kilograms, the A5 is indeed very light thanks to the primarily aluminum body. Yet its 2.0 TFSI engine can develop 132 kW while running on bioethanol which is popular in South America.
Immediately becoming the star of the Michelin Challenge Bibendum as an electrically-run high-performance sports vehicle, the Audi e-tron won the design award and took one of the top seats in the two categories (C02 emissions and overall emissions), validating its efficiency.
Four electric motors churn out a total of 230 kW, making the e-tron ultra-dynamic. The built-in Lithium-ion battery, yielding 42.4 kWh of readily-useable energy, causes the e-tron to operate and run as far as 248 km in one full charge.
Lastly, there is the standard Audi A3 1.6 TDI which produces 77 kW of pure power and is also successful as Audi’s third representative. It likewise captured the judges’ best entry list in four criteria: C02 emissions, overall emissions, handling and noise.
Now one of the most important and highly recognized events in the entire world, the Michelin Challenge Bibendum was initiated in 1998 as a forum in the field of sustainable mobility. Audi first prevailed as the overall champion when this competition was held in Shanghai back in 2007.
The Challenge debuted in South America this year, joined in by some 5,000 entrants from 80 countries trooping to Rio de Janeiro. The test drives of more or less 150 eco models remain the central focus, where the judges pick their top choices in the given categories, together with round-table discussions, themed seminars, a grand exposition and trade fair.
