Audi A6 Earns Two 'Double Best Pick' Ratings from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

ARLINGTON, Va., July 17 -- Audi became the first manufacturer ever to earn two "double best pick" ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) after their front and side crash test results for large luxury cars were announced today. The Audi A6 earned the "double best pick" rating after it achieved "best pick" designations for its performance in the recently conducted IIHS side impact crash test and the frontal offset crash test. Just last month the Audi A4 received a "double best pick" rating for the same tests. Only four cars ever have received this rating, two are Audis.

"Audi is ahead of many of their competitors in side impact protection," says Institute chief operating officer Adrian Lund. "They [Audi] engineered the new model to do well in both of the Institute's tests, and they want to get the results out more quickly to demonstrate to buyers their cars' state- of-the-art crashworthiness. The A6's 'double best pick' performance, especially, is the kind we hope to see every time we test a vehicle."

"Tests like those conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have become one way consumers can better understand the actual performance of safety systems when making their buying decisions," says Johan de Nysschen, Executive Vice President, Audi of America, Inc. "We actively sought these tests because we did not want to have to wait to prove the benefits of the extensive development work that has gone into the comprehensive combination of active and passive safety systems in every new Audi."

The new Audi A6 sedan which was represented in these tests went on sale in the U.S. last November.