Exclusive in-person display of the urbansphere concept, and a special appearance by Audi board member Hildegard Wortmann

SINGAPORE

Audi treated an audience of special guests to a preview of its future on Saturday, 19 November 2022, with its Night of Progress event that saw two stars of the Audi world appear in Singapore, in person.

One was Hildegard Wortmann, the member of the board of management for Audi AG in charge of sales and marketing, and the other was Audi’s huge, futuristic multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) concept, the urbansphere.

The German luxury carmaker invited approximately 100 guests – including VIPs, owners, partners, and the media – to a unique showcase held at the Sentosa Pavilion.

Audi Singapore’s managing director, Markus Schuster, mentioned in his event address that the Night of Progress was both a gesture of appreciation for its partners and customers, and simultaneously a celebration of Audi’s success to-date in the realm of more sustainable mobility and zero-emissions motoring. It was also Audi Singapore’s first large-scale public event since the cessation of Covid pandemic restrictions.

Audi’s own VIP and de facto guest-of-honour was Hildegard Wortmann, the member of Audi AG’s board of management in charge of sales and marketing. Ms Wortmann is the first female member of Audi AG’s board, and also one of the highest-ranking female executives in the motoring industry. As her profile says, Wortmann is also a Member of the Extended Executive Committee of the Volkswagen Group.

At the event, Wortmann mingled with guests for an informal question and answer, as well as photo ops. She previously resided in Singapore circa 2018, and mentioned how much her return to Singapore felt like a homecoming. When pressed on the tough question of her favourite Singaporean food, she declined to choose one – but professed a love for relaxed meals at hawker centres ‘in her shorts’. 

From SG to TH with love in an Audi; find out how we did it

The other Big Deal at the event was a more literal: The urbansphere concept. You can read all about it in our story here, but seeing it in the flesh was quite exciting. Firstly, it’s a huge machine – 5.5-metre long, nearly two-metre wide mega MPV in real life was quite something. Apparently it weighs more than three-tonnes and required multiple glass panels of Sentosa’s Pavilion to be removed in order to jimmy it into display position. 

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