History - Audi Tuning, VW Tuning, Chiptuning von ABT Sportsline.

Innovative
spirit

laid in the cradle

Already in the first generation, founding father Johann Abt lays the foundation for the later DNA of the ABT company with his ‘Schutsche’: pioneering spirit, exclusivity and individualisation.

The mixture of sleigh and carriage is one of the first hybrid concepts in mobility. Taken over by Johann Abt in 1896, the company, which later became AUTO-ABT, was still a blacksmith's workshop for horseshoes and carriages at the time. The first car was not driven in Kempten until 2 years later.

Always
the
right

Sense

With a sure instinct for the future, Johann Abt, who in the meantime had wisely switched to the automotive sector, decided in 1920 in favour of a partnership with...

... the Horch and Audi companies founded by August Horch, which merged with Wanderer and DKW to form Auto Union in 1932. A relationship that continues to this day.

He also sent his two sons Josef and Hans to study mechanical engineering and automotive engineering.

Strength
of
will

perseverance

After Josef, who had taken over his father's business after his father's death in 1933, had not returned from the Second World War in 1945, the success story of the ABT company could have come to a tragic end.

However, Josef's strong and clever wife Rosina Abt, together with brother-in-law Hans, now resolutely took over the reins and steered the fate of the car repair shop, which had withstood the bombing raids, into the future.

With petrol
in the
blood

to success

Johann Abt competes in his very first car race at the age of 14 and makes it onto the podium straight away.

Born in 1935, the son of Rosina and Josef gave the AUTO ABT boss a lot of pleasure at a young age. He loves cars and motorbikes more than anything else and, with a special licence from the military authorities, enters his very first car race at the age of 14 and immediately makes it onto the podium.

This was followed by a move to Ingolstadt to learn even more about vehicles at the new headquarters of Auto Union and DKW, as well as 25 further successful years of motorsport on two and four wheels. Johann Abt wins more than 300 races in cars he has tuned himself. The perfect figurehead for AUTO-ABT.

The
suc-
cession

is assured

1962 is an eventful year for the Abt family: the steadily growing business needs more space ...

... and eventually moves from Burgstraße to Oberwanger Straße in Kempten.

More importantly, Johann marries his bride Thea and in the same year Hans-Jürgen Abt is born, followed by his brother Christian in 1967. The continuation of the success story is now assured.

From the
race
track

to the road

‘We want a DKW that is at least as fast as Johann Abt's.’

AUTO-ABT has been hearing this customer slogan for years. The correspondingly consistent expansion of the product range leads to the birth of ABT Tuning and the development of the claim ‘From the race track to the road’, which is still valid today.

This is how ABT Tuning becomes the second branch of business and ABT finally becomes its own brand, which grows far beyond Kempten. The speciality: When ‘improving’ the vehicles, Johann always thinks holistically - just like in motorsport. If the engine performs better, the chassis, for example, must also be able to keep up.

The Audi
brand
starts

back into the race

In the 1960s, Johann Abt, who specialised in DKW, had to reorient himself.

Volkswagen turned away from the outdated two-stroke engine technology - and thus also from DKW - and reactivated the Audi brand, which had been decommissioned in 1939. Initially, however, only with a staid saloon, so that Johann became involved with the much sportier vehicles from Abarth, particularly in racing.

The VW
Golf
GTI

and ABT

Few vehicles are as closely associated with ABT history as the power version of the VW Golf.

Once again, Johann has the right instinct and delights countless customers with a 20% power plus from the very first model series. From 1974 onwards, he strengthened his relationship not only with Audi, but also with Volkswagen, and from then on also refined other vehicles of the brand. ABT continues to develop into an expert for engine power, but always remains innovative and becomes one of the first chip tuners in the 1980s.

The export business also became a growing component in the 70s.

Motorsport
-
the DNA

of ABT

The name Abt has been an integral part of motorsport since the 1950s.

In 1978, ABT started its collaboration with the VW Group in motorsport by participating in the German Rally Championship, which was intensified from the 1990s onwards with numerous victories and title wins in the German Super Touring Car Championship, the DTM, the ADAC GT Masters and Formula E.

However, the ABT Motorsport team also demonstrates its absolute professionalism as a private team or in cooperation with CUPRA in the Extreme E electric racing series.

1991:
The birth
of the brand

ABT Sportsline

As an independent tuning and motorsport company, ABT Sportsline is no longer subject to the strict rules of...

... such as the Audi and Volkswagen sales partner AUTO-ABT and is thus able to develop even more freely, eventually becoming an established global brand in the 1990s. To supply every customer with a vehicle optimised in every respect and equipped with the latest high-performance technology: This is and remains the core objective of ABT Sportsline, founded in 1991 and managed by the two brothers Hans-Jürgen and Christian.

'Those
who don't
constantly try

to get better ...

ceases to be good.' - Vehicle refinement at the highest level to this day: technologies are becoming increasingly complex ...

... and this makes the necessary system expertise all the more important. This is provided by the highly qualified ABT engineers.

And despite progressive automation in most branches of industry, valuable manual labour is still used today. When you buy an ABT, you are not just buying technology, you are buying an experience.

However, the alternative drives that have become increasingly important since the 90s also awaken Abt's innovative spirit, which after numerous studies and projects culminates in the ABT e-Line.

Multiple
interlocking:
tuning and

electromobility

Starting with the conversion of a racing car to natural gas and its participation in various races, ...

... ABT embarks on the initially unknown paths of alternative drive systems.

With the following studies on electromobility, the first own e-Caddy electric prototype, which is launched with a small series of 50 vehicles for the German postal service, participation in Formula E and last but not least with the spectacular 1,018 hp power hybrid RS6-E developed in 2018, ABT is strongly orientated towards the future of mobility and yet remains true to itself.

As the official body manufacturer for VW commercial vehicles, the new ABT e-Line division has been converting more than 4,300 T6 buses and Caddies into electric vehicles since 2018.

Johann Abt
Edition -
A homage

to the founder

A milestone in ABT vehicle development: 2021 will be the first time that not ‘just’ an ABT complete package, ...

... but a vehicle that has been thought through down to the last square centimetre and is charged with the entire spirit of ABT. From its own ‘Signature Red’ carbon fibre structure to the time capsule with a piece of founder Johann Abt's anvil - the best ABT engineers have thought through, developed and handcrafted the RS6 Johann Abt Edition, which is strictly limited to 64 masterpieces, down to the last detail.

The ABT XGT -
pure
racing

and absolutely unique

Unprecedented in almost 130 years of ABT: with the ABT XGT, a dream has come true in 2023.

As a genuine racing car, the ABT XGT receives a road licence and thus writes ABT history. The ABT claim ‘From the race track to the road’ could not be any closer.

ABT History

Always at the cutting edge and preferably one vehicle length ahead