"This is therefore the first time that Audi has received blanket accreditation for its two German sites and the AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. plant in Györ, Hungary." The certificates endorse in particular the customer emphasis of our operations and the quality of our products and processes," remarked Gebhardt.

On the basis of a list of 125 questions, the working processes of all divisions at the three locations were examined and assessed by auditors from TÜV Süddeutschland. The two pilot projects "Assembly Components" and "Plastics Production" at Ingolstadt had already been accredited in accordance with VDA 6.1 last December; in March, the toolmaking shop received accreditation according to the separate VDA Guideline 6.4 designed to cover such facilities.

VDA Guideline 6.1 is based on the DIN EN ISO 9001 series of standards, according to which the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants first received accreditation in 1993. The Györ plant was certified according to DIN EN ISO 9002 in 1995.

Audi develops and builds high-quality cars on a worldwide scale. The company has production sites in Germany, Hungary, Brazil, China and South Africa. In the first nine months of 1999, Audi manufactured around 471,000 vehicles and over 943,000 engines. Sales revenue was in the order of DM 21.8 billion. The Audi Group has around 46,000 employees in total.