Like most car companies in the modern world, Audi has been confronted by a major issue in the automobile industry: how does one make a car that is both safe for the environment while still maintaining performance and style? This seems to the the main problem for car companies like Audi. One could say they could lower the price range of their cars so more people could buy them, therefore allowing everyone to enjoy the class and style of an Audi, but then the cars would just become like every other car, and would lose the value and prestige of its name. Therefore, the best way for a company like Audi to exhibit their understanding and value of "social responsibility" is to reduce their carbon footprint on the world. Audi even goes to the lengths of releasing what they call an "Environmental Report," which can be downloaded annually off of their website. In these reports, they state their main goals in relation to the environment and keeping it safe and healthy:
Principles
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AUDI AG supplies high-quality cars that satisfy its customers’ requirements in terms of environmental friendliness,
economy, safety, quality and comfort in equal measures.
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Research and development are crucial elements in Audi’s environmental policy. AUDI AG develops ecologically efficient
processes and concepts for its products and so increases its own international competitiveness.
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It is the declared aim of AUDI AG to avoid detrimental influences on the environment in all its activities by looking ahead.
Compliance with all environmental regulations is taken as a matter of course.
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Environmental management at AUDI AG—together with supplier companies, service providers, trade partners and
recycling companies—ensures that the environmental friendliness of the cars and the production sites are continuously
being improved.
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The Board of AUDI AG is responsible for compliance with the environmental policy and the functioning of the environ-
mental management system. The environmental policy is reviewed regularly to ensure that it is suitable and functional;
if necessary, it is updated.
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Open and clear communication with customers, dealers and the public is taken as a matter of course by AUDI AG.
Co-operation with the government and authorities is based on trust. It includes emergency precautions and maintenance
at the individual production sites.
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All employees at AUDI AG are informed, qualified and motivated on the subject of environmental protection in accordance
with their individual function, so that their sense of responsibility for the environment is encouraged. They are obliged to
follow these principles.
- This environmental policy is binding for all sites within AUDI AG and is supplemented and/or made more specific by site-related main action fields.
Audi seeks to meet these principles in many different ways, from making a steering system that creates less friction and energy output, which in turn reduces the amount of fuel used and fumes created. They also have begun to create aluminum frames that are lighter, which means less gas is needed to propel the car. They are also focusing heavily on the reduction of CO2 that is created by cars, as CO2 reduction has been at the forefront of the climate protection argument (global warming, etc). CO2 levels can be directly traced to fuel consumption and the resulting fumes that come out of the exhaust, therefore Audi's main goal is to reduce the amount their engines need to work in order to propel cars of such size and speed. They seek the harmony between aesthetics and environmental consciousness, a combination that could prove lethal in a market such as the one Audi is fighting to control.
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