Marc Lichte - Biography
Head of Design AUDI AG
Marc Lichte was born in 1969 in Arnsberg, in the Sauerland. He started his career with Volkswagen AG in 1996 while still studying Transportation Design at the Pforzheim University of Applied Science. He was promoted there to Head of the Exterior Design Studio and worked on production models including the VW Golf (generations 5, 6 and 7), the VW Passat (generations 6, 7 and), the VW Touareg (generations 2 and 3) and the VW Arteon. Marc Lichte has been Head of Audi Design since February 1, 2014. In this position, he is responsible for Exterior and Interior Design, Color and Trim, User Interface and User Experience Design (UI/UX Design), as well as the designs of racing cars. With show cars like the Audi prologue concept car (November 2014) and the Audi Q8 concept (January 2017), he offered an accurate preview of the new design language at an early stage of the brand with the four rings. The Head of Audi Design has consistently fulfilled this promise as of today. The new generations from the Audi A1 to the Audi Q8 harmonize design and technology as well as form and function, thus shaping the face of the brand. Be it modern classics such as the luxury sedan Audi A8 or sportily elegant vehicles like the RS 6 and RS Q8 – they all carry the signature touch of a man who already knew he wanted to later become a designer at the brand with the four rings when the Audi Sport quattro came out back in 1983. With the Audi e-tron GT, the premium brand presented a fully electric Gran Turismo in February 2021 as a symbol of the next level of design language – for Marc Lichte, "the most beautiful car that I have ever designed." In 2022, the Audi Q8 e-tron carried on the success story of the pioneer Audi e-tron under a new name.
Rolf Michl - Biography
Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH
Rolf Michl has been Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH since September 2022. He was born in Oberstdorf, Germany, on April 15, 1978, and graduated with a degree in business administration from Otto Friedrich University in Bamberg, Germany, in 2006. In 2007, the man from Allgäu joined AUDI AG and, after holding positions in Germany and Italy, took on a new role in product management from 2011. In the role of project manager for the Audi Sport TT Cup, he built up the company’s first racing one-make cup in Germany from 2014. In the process, he and his team realized targeted support for international young talent. As Head of Global Product Marketing at Audi Sport, Michl then determined the global marketing profile of the R and RS models as the sporty spearhead of the model range. After a two-year stint at ABT Sportsline GmbH, the businessman returned to Audi Sport GmbH in 2019 as Director Sales and Marketing. This phase saw the biggest product offensive, including a doubling of sales and record earnings, and the unveiling of the first all-electric Gran Turismo Audi RS e-tron GT. His work as part of a global team intensified again in 2022: After holding the position of Chief Operating Officer of Audi Sport, Rolf Michl became part of the management team at Audi Sport GmbH.
Anton Habermeier - Biography
After completing a degree program in precision engineering and business engineering at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, he joined AUDI AG in 1994 as a planner in the toolmaking shop in Ingolstadt. In 1998, Habermeier assumed responsibility for a range of project management tasks in the pilot hall there and, a year later, was appointed group leader in the pilot hall in Neckarsulm. After returning to Ingolstadt, he evolved into a management position in 2002 and was responsible for mechanical engineering and measurement technology in the toolmaking shop. Habermeier played a key role here in driving forward restructuring, investment and digitalization. Between 2007 and 2015, he assumed a number of management roles in Plant/Equipment Construction in Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt. He and his team also helped to build the body shop equipment at all the Audi production locations and in the joint ventures in China, subjected them to the necessary qualification procedures and launched new manufacturing concepts in series production. In 2015, he became head of the Tooling business unit at AUDI HUNGARIA Zrt. and, shortly after, head of the press shop. Habermeier was most recently responsible for coordinating the expansion of not only expertise in the field of toolmaking and plant engineering but also – and above all – the exclusive series and its structural enhancement.