HERNDON, VA - The German Design Council will honor the Audi A5 Coupé with a 2010 Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. This is the fourth time that an Audi model has won this most prestigious of all official German design awards. The award will be presented as part of the opening ceremony of the International Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt on February 12. A total of 23 products emerged victorious from the Product Design category of this renowned competition.

"Audi's Design team and I are thrilled by this accolade. It convincingly acknowledges the Audi brand's design excellence. The A5 Coupé boasts the genes of a design icon, and it's great that the judges also see it that way," says Stefan Sielaff, head of Audi Design.

Wolfgang Egger, head of Audi Group Design, adds: "The Audi A5 Coupé continues the tradition of the classic two-door sport/touring coupé: executed powerfully and boldly via elements of Audi's progressive design language. The A5 epitomizes sportiness and elegance. Driving it also offers outstanding handling and excellent comfort on long journeys."

The A5 thus joins the Audi A4 Avant, the Audi A3, and the Audi A2 as the fourth Audi model to win Germany's most prestigious design award.

Some 112,000 units were sold worldwide between Audi's launch of the A5 Coupé in June 2007 and late September 2009. The largest markets are Germany, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy.

The Award
A company may take part only if its product has already won a national or international award. Furthermore, companies must be nominated by a German state's Ministry of Economics and legislators or by Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

Panel of Judges
Award-winners are chosen by an independent panel of expert judges. They work in industry, at universities, in the media, or specialize in design. Judges are appointed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

History
The Design Award is the most prestigious official design award in the Federal Republic of Germany which is offered by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology. This award was presented in 1969 for the first time - under the name "Germany's Award for Good Design". Thereafter, the honor was issued every two years; the award also recognized different merits every time. In 1992, the award's name changed for the first time. In alternating years, Germany's Award for Product Design and Germany's Award for Champion of Design - which honored a design virtuoso for contributions to the field - were presented.

Since 2006, Design Awards of the Federal Republic of Germany have been awarded annually for outstanding achievements in the fields of product design and communication design as well as presented to a master of design. In 2010, a German Design Award for an up-and-coming designer will be presented for the first time.