What I retain of my visit in Ingolstadt, meeting Wolfgang Huhn and Michael Hamm, and visiting Audi’s facilities, is the fruitful information I got on the new A8 and A7 and the research work Audi are busily doing. So many creative solutions, so many innovations, so many new features! It is this I would like to share with you—see this week’s in-depth report.
In the automotive industry, at each new model’s launch, we have either innovative styling features in the exterior or interior body, or improved performance, but there are not often styling and performance innovations at the same time. It is probably one of the reasons for the success of vehicle lighting lately: technology is developed to bring fascinating new style and improved lighting performance, all at once.
When I drove the Mercedes CLS in 2010, I have seen for the first time an LED light better than HID considering the quantity and quality of the light, homogeneity, and smoothness of AFS movement. I was convinced that it would be difficult to have a better light. I had the same feeling when I drove the Audi A7 few years ago, then the wonderful light of the E-Class.
So before the night drives with A8 and A7, I asked myself that same question: is it possible to have a better light than the E-Class? After the night drive, the answer is indeed YES. That proves that in lighting there is no end in sight for performance improvement. We have with the premium brands and with lighting suppliers levers to carry on improving the lighting performance for the foreseeable future.
I also retain from my visit, the intriguing interviews with Dr. Huhn and Dr. Hamm, Wolfgang Huhn talking about the importance of software and Michael Hamm explaining how his experience acquired at Automotive Lighting is useful to follow the headlamp development of new models. Read all about it this week.
Sincerely yours,
DVN President