Audi: Raw Materials, Road, Recycling – How Life Cycle Analysis Influences Product Development

Abstract

Where do the economic, environmental and social responsibilities of a car company begin and end? This is a question that often prompts discussion. For Audi, the focus of corporate responsibility is primarily on its products—and always considers the entire life cycle of a vehicle, from its production and use to the end of its life span: recycling. To lay the groundwork today for the future, the premium carmaker has to consider a wide range of issues: supplier management, protection of the environment, the research and development of innovative technologies like electrical mobility and synthetic fuels, and the challenge of recycling as much as possible of the materials used in cars. In doing so, Audi always considers how people will be living a few years from now, since creating an intelligent design for future individual mobility also depends on that. Audi bases all corporate decisions and activities on the sustainability of its products and processes. “We live responsibility” is the basic philosophy that runs like a common thread throughout the company.