Bang & Olufsen celebrates record UK sales in the Audi Q7

The awesome Audi Q7, which beat all sales forecasts in 2007 with nearly 6,200 units sold in the UK, now has a further attraction: it is available with the world’s finest in-car entertainment.

Already proving popular in the Audi Q7 UK order book, the bespoke Bang & Olufsen Advanced Sound System boasts 14 speakers, unique acoustic lens tweeters and Bang & Olufsen’s patented ICEpower digital amplifier technology. It is available as an upgrade at £4,500 in the UK.

The company’s relationship with Audi began in 2001 when the Danish company was looking for a suitable partner with whom to extend its range of premium home entertainment products into the automotive world. With both companies’ extensive use of aluminium, they already had much in common beyond the obvious flair for design and precision engineering.

Audi UK managing director, Jeremy Hicks, said: “Our relationship with Bang & Olufsen is getting better all the time, with their sound systems now available in our A4, A5, A6, Q7, R7, S8 and A8. The sales figures show that our customers certainly approve.
He added: “The Q7 had a fantastic year in 2007, in what is a very challenging market for SUVs at the moment. But there is much more to come from the Q7, most importantly the launch of the 3.6 FSI hybrid, which will be available in Europe later this year.”
Managing director of Bang & Olufsen in the UK, Derek Mottershead, added: “We are delighted with the success of Audi in the UK, and especially with the take-up of the Bang & Olufsen premium sound option. Not only does it add an unrivalled sound experience to what is already an excellent collection of vehicles from Audi, but it also adds the more unquantifiable advantage of kudos. You can tell if an Audi has a Bang & Olufsen sound system upgrade just by looking at it, and there is a marked customer desire for this.”

For this month only, until 29 February 2008, Audi is offering existing owners the opportunity to buy a new Audi A4 with the optional Bang & Olufsen sound system upgrade included free of charge.

Technical specifications

Front:
Two 19 mm tweeters with two Neodymium*magnets each mounted in an acoustic lens (Acoustic Lens Technology is licensed exclusively by Bang & Olufsen) with automatic motorised emergence
Front/Centre loudspeaker: 80mm full-range driver with Neodymium magnet

Front doors:
80mm mid-range drivers with Neodymium magnets + 165mm woofers with Neodymium magnets
Rear doors: 25mm tweeters with Neodymium magnets + 140mm woofers

Rear:
Two 80mm full-range drivers with Neodymium magnets + 200mm subwoofer mounted in a 20 litre cabinet

Amplifiers: Nine 28 watt Class-B amplifiers for tweeters, mid-range and centre driver Four 125 watt ICEpower Class D amplifiers for bass drivers One 250 watt ICEpower Class D amplifier for the subwoofer

* Neodymium is a rare earth metal that is used in the strongest permanent magnets known. These magnets are stronger, lighter and smaller than for instance the cheaper Ferrite magnets, making them ideal for high-quality products such as loudspeakers where low mass, small volume, and/or strong magnetic fields are required.