Audi launches DrivingExperience program in Middle East

After establishing training centers Germany, Finland, Sweden and Austria, the AudiDriving Experience has now set up a permanent base in the Middle East.

Hosted at the Dubai Autodrome the German premium car manufacturer is offering an 'Advanced Safety' and a 'High Performance' driver training and will expand the program further in 2008.

Plans are to include Audi R8 and add a SUV focused training featuring the Audi Q7.

The Audi DrivingExperience is part of the recently launched Audi Experience scheme and is designed to make drivers more confident and capable on the roads.

By having a deeper understanding of driving and practicing those skills in a controlled environment, a driver is better prepared to face the uncertainties that await on public roadways.

These skills, coupled with a capable vehicle, create a new awareness and the ability to react properly.

An improved driver is safer and can take distinct advantage of the vehicle's full capabilities to avoid an accident.

To learn these skills, the Audi DrivingExperience places drivers outside their normal comfort range in a variety of exercises designed to improve skills and reactions in emergency situations.

Prior to this though, the courses focus on building solid fundamentals of driving. From seating position to braking technique, the program builds skills in each individual area. Only then everything is put together on the race track.

For all of its near 100-year history, Audi has been synonymous with technical innovation and sporting excellence.

In the nineteen thirties, Grand Prix cars bearing the famous four-ring Audi badge were winning races at speeds that would not be out of place in today's Formula 1.

At the same time Audi was the first to introduce front wheel drive and a planned crash test program to the everyday driver.

In the early eighties the Audi quattro was the first car to bring four-wheel drive to the volume market and TDI, aluminium space frame technology, FSI and the S tronic transmission are all Audi innovations.

Nowadays Audi cars also include active and passive safety features such as ABS (Antilock Braking Systems), ESP (Electronic Stability Program) and front and side airbag systems to increase the level of protection for both drivers and passengers.

Bernd Rosenbichler, Head of Marketing of Audi Middle East comments: 'Sophisticated technological systems are only part of the story.

Driver error is still one of the most frequent causes of accidents on our roads and it is therefore the right time to introduce the Audi DrivingExperience to the Middle East.'