At the time, Audi s reaction was blunt: the owners were accidentally stepping on the gas, not the brakes.
What sets this car apart from other high-horsepower brutes (you really have to get into something like a BMW M series or Audi S series to even approach this level of performance in a non-exotic) is its style.
Audi's 60-second ad in the first quarter, with an ending voted on by viewers, shows a boy gaining confidence from driving his father's Audi to the prom, kissing the prom queen and getting decked by the prom king.
The benefits are mutual: a big reason's for Audi's high profitability is its ability to share technology and platforms with the bigger Volkswagen group, whose brands range from Porsche to Bentley to Skoda.
Among other features, the processor enables feature-rich vehicle interfaces, and vivid digital radio and audio within the RCC unit in Audi's MIB High system, which debuted in the 2012 Audi A3.
ENGADGET: TI to be driving force behind Audi's next-gen MIB High infotainment platform
The movie's stars even came to a Delhi showroom to promote the movie along with a new version of Audi's R8 Spyder car.
Daimler aims for its Mercedes brand to overtake BMW and VW's Audi as the world's biggest selling luxury carmaker by 2020.
But moving upmarket takes decades, as Audi's painstaking ascent since the 1980s has shown.
ECONOMIST: Luxury cars are speeding ahead; lesser brands are stalled
Shuanghuan Automobile got into trouble for copying Audi's famous four-ring logo a few years ago.
VW-subsidiary Audi's sales in China rose 30% last year to 405, 838 cars, while BMW's surged 40% to 326, 444.
Audi's growth is key to its parent Volkswagen's own ambitions to become the world's largest car maker by 2018.
Like Ed Wirtz, a 46-year-old Los Angeles-area insurance and investment adviser, many customers have flocked to Audi's "new luxury" image.
Audi's winning car was the only one of their three to complete the contest, which ended in a torrential downpour.
"TI and Audi's collaboration has produced a truly paramount automotive infotainment system, " said Matthew Watson, product line manager, audio and infotainment, TI.
ENGADGET: TI to be driving force behind Audi's next-gen MIB High infotainment platform
Because of Audi's relatively meager U.S. sales, Lindland says the A3 has the most riding on it, because the brand's dealers need the volume.
The mighty 12 is backed up by an eight-speed transmission and Audi's Quattro all-wheel drive system (with electrically locking front and rear differentials, no less).
That cohort already makes up nearly 48% of Audi's U.S. customer base, compared with 45.8% for BMW, 34% for Mercedes and 18% for Toyota Motor Corp.
Audi's great diesel vehicles--the A3 TDI and Q7 TDI--didn't make the cut for our list (the luxury brand name carries a hefty price premium, though Mercedes-Benz was able to break through that ceiling).
Jacinto 5 plays an important role in the new architecture of Audi's high infotainment systems, which consist of a multimedia applications unit ("MMX") and a highly integrated radio and car control unit ("RCC").
ENGADGET: TI to be driving force behind Audi's next-gen MIB High infotainment platform
By the morning, the Audi's advantage in the wet had left Kristensen, Capello and McNish with a three-minute lead, which Villeneuve, Gene and Minassian tried to chip away for the rest of the race.
Some of Audi's biggest growth is coming from the U.S., where sales have climbed 17% so far this year and its share of the luxury-import car market has nearly doubled to 10.1% from 5.8% in 2006.
These buyers' aesthetic preferences are shaped as much by Apple iPhones as high-performance cars, and many of them have been drawn to the understated lines of Audi's design and details such as the cars' high-tech multimedia systems.
This year they have returned with two cars, as against Audi's three, and their driving line-up includes four drivers who have previously competed in Formula One - but none of whom has previously raced at Le Mans.
Mr Schreiber's suggestion that Volkswagen Group's plant in Bratislava might get the new Bentley is based on its proven ability to produce SUV models for other marques within the group, such as the Audi's Q7 and the Volkswagen Touareg.
But more surprising was the reaction to ads featuring what Siddiquee called more "subtle" forms of sexism, such as Audi's "Prom" ad, which showed a teen boy strutting onto the dance floor, grabbing a girl and pulling her in for a kiss.
Volkswagen AG's Audi brand says none of its high-performance RS or S models, except the R8 sports car, is now subject to a guzzler penalty.
James Storry's Audi S5 was seen travelling at up to 80mph on a 40mph road in Trowell, Nottinghamshire, before striking a tractor and then a Nissan Micra.
In the ad, a boy gains confidence from driving his father's Audi to the prom, kisses the prom queen once he arrives at the dance and gets decked by the prom king.
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