- New mid-engine sports car features high-tech headlights
- Laser high-beam offers high light intensity and excellent range
Ingolstadt, February 16, 2015 – Audi is revealing the headlights of its new R8 as the first of a number of technology highlights of the top sports car. The R8 uses LED headlights which can be supplemented by a laser high beam lighting module as an option.
The new R8 will set new standards among high-performance sports cars – including in its lighting technology. As an option, the latest development by Audi can be equipped with a laser spot as the high-beam headlight. The special appeal of laser lighting is that it uses high-intensity laser diodes, which generate a lot of light energy from a very small component. Compared to LED high-beam headlights, laser high-beams attain nearly twice the lighting range.
Each headlight contains one laser module that operates with four high-intensity laser diodes. This module bundles the four intense blue-light laser beams. Then a phosphor converter transforms the blue light into pure white light. An identifying characteristic of the laser headlights is their blue light signature. Standard equipment in the new R8 includes an LED headlight system. All lighting functions are produced with 37 LEDs per headlight.
The laser spot for the high-beam light made its debut in the summer of 2014 in the Audi R8 LMX, a limited edition model of the previous R8 model series. Shortly before that, it was used in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro race car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The laser spot is the latest production technology in a long line of lighting innovations. Audi introduced LED technology to the market for the first time in 2004 – in the daytime running lights of the Audi A8 L W12. Lighting technologies such as LED daytime running lights, Matrix LED headlights and laser spot high-beam lights are prime examples of technology that visualise the core values of the Audi brand: progressiveness, sportiness and sophistication.
The Audi Group
The Audi Group delivered around 1,575,500 cars of the Audi brand to customers in 2013. From January through the end of September 2013 the Company posted revenue of €37 billion and an operating profit of €3.74 billion. The Audi Group is globally present in more than 100 markets and produces vehicles in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm (Germany), Gyor (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), Bratislava (Slovakia), Martorell (Spain), Kaluga (Russia), Aurangabad (India), Changchun (China) and Jakarta (Indonesia). The brand with four rings produces cars also in Foshan (China) since December 2013, in 2015 in São José dos Pinhais (Brazil) and 2016 in San José Chiapa (Mexico). AUDI AG's wholly owned subsidiaries include quattro GmbH (Neckarsulm), Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy) and the sports motorcycle manufacturer Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (Bologna, Italy). The Group currently employs almost 73,000 people worldwide, including around 50,000 in Germany. Total investment of around €22 billion is planned from 2014 to 2018 – mainly in new products and sustainable technologies. Audi lives up to its corporate responsibility and has strategically established the principle of sustainability for its products and processes. The long-term goal is CO2-neutral mobility.