Ken Block Will Hoon With Audi To Develop Future EVs

In the world of motorsport, few know how to entertain quite like drift master Ken Block. This professional rallycross driver first blew the world away with hisnow-famous Gymkhana series, and has partnered with prestigious rally brands over the years like Subaru and Ford. Block has sincemoved away from Ford, but not before he showcased theabsolutely insane drift versionof the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E. Ford has since gone on to partner with all kinds of companies, including a stint with Skoda, but the big news is that he's partnering up with Audi for his next EV adventure, and it promises to be huge.

Ken's role within Audi won't be his typical one, hooning cars around on camera for the entertainment of the internet. Instead, he'll be honing Audi's future EVs, both for the road and motorsport.

奥利弗•霍夫曼表示,董事会成员的技术nical development at Audi, Audi stands for 'Vorsprung durch Technik'. Every day we are trying to push boundaries to create the future of mobility. Our goal is to fascinate our customers with progressive design, innovative technology and a broad digital ecosystem. I am delighted that we were able to attract Ken Block and his team to Audi."

Ken's role will be inclusive of the Audi motorsport portfolio, with Julius Seebach, managing director of Audi Sport GmbH proud of the fact that motorsport is paving the way for future technologies" at Audi. According to Seebach, "Electrification is a game-changer, just like quattro drive once was," and with ken Block on board, the brand has "exciting things in store that go perfectly with our strategy."

To coincide with the announcement, Ken Block got behind the wheel of theAudi RS e-tron GT. For Ken, experiencing the car and joining the Audi brand closes a full-circle loop in his life as a gearhead.

Ken praised the RS e-tron GT's exquisite design and amazing driving experience, but also speaks of how Audi "ignited my passion for motorsport." Ken was just a teenager when Audidominated the World Rally Championshipwith the Audi Quattro and set a Pikes Peak record in the Audi Sport quattro S1, inspiring Block to become a rally driver himself.

Of the opportunity to join the Audi team, the 53-year-old says, "I am extremely excited to start this new chapter. Together, we will develop innovative projects and push the boundaries of electric mobility." He goes on to speak of electric vehicles. "Electric mobility is the future," he says. "I see the electric car as a leap forward for us as a society in order to create something that can not only reduce emissions and hopefully make the planet a better place. But not only that: it's also about performance. I love anything that makes me go faster. Electric cars can do that."

他没有质疑声音,或缺乏thereof, either: "I have kids who don't care about that. They think that thesound of electric carsis just as cool as the sound of internal combustion engines."