Magazine milestone

Unfortunately the present situation means there won’t be a big party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Audi Magazine Australia (AMA), but we couldn’t let such a milestone slip by without looking back at the last two decades.

Since the first issue was published in 2000, AMA has gone on to become the longest running in-house publication in the country. Over that time it has been produced first as a print publication, then also with an iPad version and now exists exclusively on-line, publishing new material daily and reaching a bigger audience of Audi enthusiasts than ever before.

Over that time it has covered all things Audi, not only bringing news of new models and technological developments, but delving into the Audi lifestyle with travel, food, wine, experiences and people all gracing its pages or screens.

From the very outset, AMA took a very different approach to the corporate automotive titles that proliferated at the time, in that is was never just a local reprint of an overseas ‘parent title’, or a section of local Australian news shoehorned into a largely overseas publication. Rather AMA was produced in Australia specifically for the Australian market, able to draw on the photographic and technical resources of AUDI AG but with Australian journalists, photographers and designers all working to give the publication a uniquely Australian feel within an unmistakably Audi framework. 

Not just some of the biggest names in motoring journalism, but the cream of writers and photographers from a wealth of backgrounds, all contributing to make the magazine something worth spending time over.

And as the Audi brand has grown in Australia, so too the company’s own publication has grown, notching up 55 print editions with a print run that at its height was in excess of 80,000 magazines per issue.

Originally published as a quarterly, many a retail title over the past 20 years would have happily adopted the numbers generated by AMA. In 2011, the magazine expanded to offer customers and enthusiasts the publication on iPad as well as in print – the only premium magazine in the country to do so. Then in 2015, Audi Australia took the step of increasing the magazine’s digital footprint in keeping with the brand’s Vorsprung durch Technik, with a custom built Audi Magazine site publishing content daily and working in concert with a larger print magazine published twice a year.

Continually moving with the times and adapting to an ever-changing world, AMA has continued to go from strength to strength, and while the print side of the publication was discontinued in 2017, last year alone AMA in its purely digital form, reached over half a million users and is well and truly on track to eclipse that figure in 2020.

The past 20 years has seen too many articles published to count and no end of milestones along the way. The very first edition featured the then all-new Audi allroad quattro on the cover with the Audi masthead emblazoned in orange – a fact that didn’t go down well with Germany at the time, as ‘Audi’ had to appear in red for the publication to be considered official. We never made that mistake again.

Every Audi Australia new model launch has had a representative of the magazine present – again too many to count, but there have been some incredible experiences among them. The launch of the very first Audi R8 at Phillip Island with none other than Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen, on hand to introduce the now iconic supercar to the Australian press was a standout. TK’s first trip Down Under and a fitting way to introduce a car that has also gone on to win a record three Bathurst 12 Hour Races in in full race guise.

Charting the growth of early events that grew to national standing, from the original Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta to the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and the increasingly influential InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards and the GQ Men of Style Awards.

Then there are the raft of lifestyle drive and launch events. Race tracks to deserts, Targa Tasmania roads to the country’s most famous road circuit – and of course the famed Audi Trans-Continental Crossing. This special launch event was developed to introduce another powerhouse Audi model – the Q7 – to Australia, and is still spoken about today as one of the best of its type. An epic 7000km drive across the country, involving 100 participants in 15 Q7s, starting in Sydney and finishing on Cable Beach in Broome. Without a doubt the biggest undertaking of its type and a standout amongst numerous Audi launch events – so much so that it warranted its own special edition of the magazine.

There’s also been no shortage of international content in the magazine, but the same principle of having Australian writers produce material specifically for our markets still applies. Whether they be living overseas or visiting – that of course was back when international travel was more common place!

Now, all these years later that same commitment to delivering quality editorial remains at the core and the daily publishing regimen and ever-increasing interest from readers reflects the speed at which the Audi world is moving. With its capacity to share news as it happens, as well as carrying video and animation, AMA is in a better position than ever before to keep Audi owners, enthusiasts and fans up-to-date with new models and developments, while still exploring the more lifestyle aspects of the Audi world. Arguably one of the few publications in existence where all news in good news.

Happy birthday Audi Magazine Australia and congratulations and thanks to all the talented and passionate people who have supported the title in its first 20 years.