# Audi Steps Up Frankfurt Auto Show Game with $14.3M Temporary Show Hall Complete with Test Track



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

Audi's growing prominence within the world's luxury car market is about to be witnessed first hand at the world's largest industry auto show in Frankfurt this September. The New York Times is reporting that the brand has commissioned a 15,000 square meter temporary structure convention hall by Munich-based architecture firm Schmidhuber & Partner.

The multi-level display isn't just a place to park cars and will include a 400-meter long test track running throughout (note the R8s that appear to be running the course in this larger photo we've obtained from Audi AG). Customers will be able to test drive vehicles at the auto show, and a website is expected to support reservations for the drives.

“It is not about the size, but about quality,” Audi's Moritz Dreschel told The New York Times of the new display. “About how people perceive the Audi brand and its vehicles, and how they can interact with it. We wanted to provide our customers with an element of surprise.”

As mentioned, the building, costing $14.3 Million (10 million Euros) is a temporary structure. Several months after the Frankfurt IAA, it will be dismantled and removed. Apparently it's use has been procured for a book fair following the auto show, but after that it will be removed. Built of more easily transportable modules, the facility is expected to be used again and perhaps not just in Frankfurt.

Judging by the photos, it appears that the Audi building will sit in the courtyard spot that has played home to an also temporary BMW structure for at least the last decade. Though it seems larger and clearly more complex with the test track, this seems a move in keeping with the extravagant displays put on especially by the German 'Big 3' auto manufacturers.

Audi formerly shared the ground floor of a neighboring hall with its Volkswagen Group brand siblings. Now planning a move to its own facility, this does beg the question of where BMW will land at the IAA and whether the Volkswagen Group will allow any other brands to share its first floor position.

Read more via the New York Times story after the jump.

* Full Story *


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