Production Start New Audi TT Coupe

Press Release

230 million euro investment for production of sports car

• Minister of the Economy and Transport János Kóka and Audi Board Member for Production Dr. Jochem Heizmann drive the first new sports car off the line

• A successful cooperation between Ingolstadt and Gy?r

• Leading position in the premium segment

Pure emotion: Audi Hungaria is continuing its success story – today saw the start of production of the second generation of the Audi TT Coupé. The Hungarian Minister of the Economy and Transport, János Kóka, and Dr. Jochem Heizmann, Board Member for Production at AUDI AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Commission of AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., gave the starting signal for the new sports car during a ceremony at the plant in Gy?r. The TT Coupé will be launched on the market in September 2006.

“Audi Hungaria has captured a top position in the premium sports car segment with the production of the Audi TT. The decision to assemble the new model in Gy?r is testimony to the excellent and productive interaction between Germany and Hungary as production locations ,” explained Dr. Jochem Heizmann during the ceremony.

A total of 230 million euros have been invested in the production of the TT. Of this amount, around 20 million euros were allocated primarily to new assembly plant equipment at Audi Hungaria in Gy?r. The Audi TT goes through the body shop and paint shop stages at the Audi plant in Ingolstadt. The sports car is assembled on an area covering 35,000 m² in Gy?r. The beginning of next year will see the assembly process being operated on the basis of a three-shift system. Approximately 800 employees work in TT assembly in Gy?r. The production capacity will be higher than that of the predecessor model and around 20,000 Audi TT Coupé models are to be assembled in Gy?r by the end of this year.

“The TT project in Gy?r was realised within only 20 months. Our especially flexible assembly process and our highly qualified employees make us an extremely productive location within the Group. We have succeeded in considerably reducing production time for the new TT, even though it is more sophisticated and more complex than the predecessor model. This makes us extremely competitive on an international level,” said Thomas Faustmann, Chairman of the Board of Management at AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft.

The new TT will be available with either a 2.0 TFSI four-cylinder engine developing 147 kW (200 bhp) or a 3.2 V6 engine generating 184 kW (250 bhp). Special technical features are the Audi Space Frame ASF in lightweight design and the active damper system Audi magnetic ride. The successor to the Audi TT Roadster will follow at the beginning of 2007.

AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., a fully owned subsidiary of AUDI AG and based in Gy?r, has been one of the principal engine suppliers for the Audi and Volkswagen Groups for 12 years. Audi Hungaria is also Hungary's biggest exporter and one of the country’s highest-revenue companies. A total of more than eleven million engines have been produced here since autumn 1994. Around 270,000 Audi TT Coupés and TT Roadsters have left the assembly line since the start of production in 1998.