Production and sustainability

The new Audi A5 rolls off the production line at the Audi plant in Neckarsulm. In the future, the Audi A7, the successor to the successful Audi A6 model, will also be built in Neckarsulm based on the Premium Platform Combustion.

With the 360factory, Audi has a clear vision for the production of the future. The company is pursuing a holistic, sustainable approach and is modernizing, digitalizing, and transforming its existing plants. In the production of models based on the PPC at the Neckarsulm site, Audi is focusing heavily on sustainability, with the aim of producing vehicles in a net carbon-neutral¹ way from 2025. To this end, the site relies on efficient production lines, among other things, which will further reduce energy consumption within the plant and thus also reduce CO₂ emissions per vehicle produced. In the body shop, Audi is further increasing the level of automation and using innovative technologies for quality monitoring.

Audi has made a conscious decision to use recycled materials for certain components. These materials, prepared using a recycling process, reduce the use of resources and ensure a closed and, therefore, efficient and sustainable cycle. Some of the materials in the interior are produced sustainably. For example, the Cascade cloth used in the S Line interior is made partly from recycled polyester and laminated to form a single-constituent material so that it can be recycled in the future. Furthermore, the waist rails, inserts, and armrests of the door panels are also based on recycled plastics. Secondary raw materials are also used to a large extent for the carpet, load floor, and trunk side panels.

Audi also relies on numerous recycled plastic components for the exterior. Examples of this are various covers at the front or underbody parts. In the new Audi A5, recycled material is even used in several sophisticated structural components for the bumpers and crash-relevant front-end components.

State-of-the-art corrosion protection and integrated painting process

The historic predecessor of the new Audi A5 model series, the Audi 80, was one of the pioneers of corrosion protection in 1986 with its fully galvanized body. Today, 38 years later, Audi Neckarsulm relies on the most modern and effective corrosion prevention methods. This includes a process called cathodic dip coating, an electrochemical coating method for metal surfaces that offers a high level of corrosion protection. At the Neckarsulm site, the bodywork is immersed upside down in a tank and rotated forward in a new rotation process. This has several advantages: Firstly, it saves space, and secondly, the components are coated more thoroughly in the rotating process by avoiding the formation of tiny air bubbles and dirt deposits, for example, on the roof. After drying, the protective layer forms the basis for further steps in the paint shop.

Sustainable water-based paints have long been standard at Audi. The painting process has been revised for new models, including the Audi A5, to make it even more environmentally friendly. The A5 uses a method that significantly reduces energy consumption. In the regular painting process, the filler is dried separately. Fillers are generally used to even out minor unevenness on the surface, protect the sheet metal from stone chips, and ensure that the subsequent layers of paint adhere perfectly. Fillers also prevent corrosion. In the new process, these important functions are performed by a pre-zone paint that is applied wet-on-wet. This eliminates the need for intermediate drying and saves up to 140 kWh of energy per vehicle.

The applied paint layers must be dried at the end of the complex painting process. Previously, Audi dried the dip coating using a process of exclusively blowing hot air on the outside. A new process, known as cross-drying, is used to dry the cathodic dip coating. This relies on drying by blowing air into the interior of the body. This means that hot air is blown into the interior through the body openings, for example, through the opening for the windshield, thus drying the paint more energy-efficiently. The transverse dryer also has the advantage that it is better suited to future electric and hybrid vehicles – and their stronger floor assembly, than external drying.

Efficient dry separation saves energy

The paint separation process is also new. Until now, the paint mist – the paint particles not deposited on the body – was collected in water and then disposed of. As part of the expansion of production of the A5 family, Audi in Neckarsulm now relies on dry separation. The paint mist is collected by ultra-modern filters; this form of separation saves a considerable amount of fresh water. In addition, dry separation enables the air to be reused in a recirculated air operation. The proportion of recirculated air in the process is around 90 percent, while the proportion of fresh air is around 10 percent. This means that fresh air conditioning, i.e., preheating and filtering, can be significantly reduced. The energy saving is around 50 kWh per vehicle.

High degree of automation and state-of-the-art quality monitoring in body construction

Neckarsulm is the only site in the Group that produces all body parts, including mudguards and associated small parts, fully automatically in the body shop. The aim here was to further improve the fitting accuracy of the components and minimize external influences. In the highly complex fender attachment alone, seven robots simultaneously screw the fenders to the body at 18 screw points. The delivery and unloading of the containers with the parts are also fully automated.

The measurements required for quality control in the body shop are largely carried out inline, i.e., without requiring removing a vehicle from the production line. New technology is used at two stations. Four robots are each equipped with a measuring sensor to determine the dimensional accuracy of the component to be tested.

The measurement requires complete coverage of the robot movements, which is achieved with the help of 16 tracking cameras and reference marks. The measurement result obtained from this combination is evaluated and visualized using software and made available to the user. With this new technology, every vehicle produced can be measured directly on the production line. This allows Audi to significantly increase the number of measurements, enabling faster reactions to possible deviations and continuous and uninterrupted quality control.

Augmented reality (AR) software as an app on commercially available tablet PCs with an integrated camera supports employees when inspecting car bodies. These AR applications show the connection points to be checked in real time. This allows the experts to conduct targeted inspections and document directly whether, for example, joining techniques such as weld seams or points are present and executed according to their target specifications. The virtual overlay of the recorded car body is carried out without prior markings using a software-supported tracking system. The application is mobile and can be carried out from any location.

Reduced-fume fusing is a world-first

Another innovation in bodywork construction is virtually fumeless joining. Bonded components such as flaps and doors are fixed with small soldering points to prevent the inner and outer parts from slipping before the adhesive is activated in the oven. The innovation relates to the soldered fixing points, which can be set almost fumelessly in contrast to conventional processes. For example, in traditional processes, the funnel clamp with a gas nozzle directs pressured gas onto the soldering or fixing point during joining. This pressure throws fume particles onto the surface around the fixing point. Previously, the numerous fixing points had to be cleaned afterward, as fume is corrosive and promotes rust formation. On the other hand, the new, virtually fumeless process relies on a rotating gas flow that spreads over the component surface like a protective film and, thus, almost completely prevents fume adhesion. Furthermore, the new process is more than twice as fast as previously used techniques.

Water-saving production in Neckarsulm gathering pace

In the cross-site Mission:Zero environmental program, water supply is one of the issues on the agenda in concerning the responsible use of resources. The aim is to halve ecologically weighted water consumption in production by 2035. In Neckarsulm, Audi relies on a closed water cycle with the wastewater treatment plant of the Unteres Sulmtal wastewater association adjacent to the plant. The water purified by the sewage treatment plant is further treated by Audi for production with the help of filter systems and membranes. After use, the process water flows back into the treatment plant. From 2025, the process water for the entire plant will be fed into a closed circuit, thus saving up to 70 percent of fresh water. 

¹ Audi understands net-zero CO₂ emissions to mean a situation in which, after other possible reduction measures have been exhausted, the company offsets the carbon emitted by Audi’s products or activities and/or the carbon emissions that currently cannot be avoided in the supply chain, manufacturing, and recycling of Audi vehicles through voluntary offsetting projects carried out worldwide. In this context, carbon emissions generated during a vehicle’s utilization stage, i.e. from the moment it is delivered to the customer, are not taken into account.


The equipment, data and prices specified in this document refer to the model range offered in Germany. Subject to change without notice; errors and omissions excepted.