Audi vs. Porsche in VW Racing/Branding strategy

kgall

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2012
Location
Ark
TDI
2012 Audi A-3
Congratulations to everyone involved on an Audi TDI hybrid winning the WEC championship and its drivers winning the WEC driving championship!

Then a thought just hit me: Why is VW promoting Audi as its racing brand name?
Of the most famous brands in the VW-Group stable, I think of Porsche as the racing/sports car brand.
When my wife and I drove our Audi TDI in Europe this spring, Porsches were the most common sports car we saw on the roads, like Corvettes are the ones you see most often in the US.

So what's going on here? Is VW repositioning its brands?
Does it have anything to do with Porsche now having an SUV? That's something I thought was really weird when I first heard of it, and still do.
 

arne487

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Location
Fort Collins, CO
TDI
'03 Golf TDI, '10 TDI Cup Jetta
I've always considered Audi a racing brand. There's a lot of racing history there, going back to the pre-merger Auto Union. Don't forget about Quattro rally cars and Le Mans prototypes. Why can't they both be racing brands? They both have sports cars as well as SUVs.
 

RabbitGTI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 20, 1997
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
B4 Passat Sedan
Porsche had always run endurance races and dominated for a longtime with the 917 and it's variants. And of course the 911 and it's various versions are very active in sportscar racing. Porsche has not had the cash for a factory effort the last few years. They ran LMP2 in ALMS until the crash in 2008. They are returning to LeMan with a prototype in 2014.

I think the whole TDI/Audi development kind of took off because they tried something new and it worked really, really well. It's a nice showcase for their technology and the advertising punch they get from LeMans is priceless.

I really hope the combined GrandAm and ALMS series highlights some technology in the prototype class instead of the DP Dumpsters. They also have to maintain ties to the ACO and they better not screw up ALMS GT.
 
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