Audi specialises in selling up and has a huge range of models which enable content enhancement step by step.

James Allitt has been the senior product manager for Audi in the UK for three years. “Our customers demand the most technical car possible,” is his simple mantra.

Audi now builds a new derivative as soon as there is a technology change to justify it. “We are the experts on the Audi models needed by the UK market.

The parent company will provide what we want. The UK market demands the latest and best and Audi is definitely right up there offering the best as standard spec.

“If you look at the new A6 it gives you leather, air, alloys, cruise, satnav, park sensors and Bluetooth as standard. We have to do it.”

It means long battles with the finance department in Germany. “They think we should be selling these sorts of things as expensive options and that we are not getting enough for them. But we have to.

“We want to lead the luxury car market. We are going to have DAB (digital audio) as soon as we can.”

Another major target for Audi is to provide in-car web access. It is scheduled for A1, A5, A6, A7 and A8.

“You can then use the car as a giant modem and get Google Earth on the sat nav, Google Street View, and link up for e-mails.” The technology exists. It just needs doing.

“There is some very clever stuff,” said Allitt. The A6, A7 and A8 will have satellite linkages that allow the car to know where it is and what it is doing at all times.

If there is a series of bends coming up, it knows it is about to slow down. Therefore, it knows not to change up a gear at that precise moment.

The car knows that it is approaching a village so it sets a short, fat headlamp beam rather than the long thin one that it adopts for motorways.

And when the car knows it is in France from the smell of Gauloises and garlic (or, more likely, the roadsigns) it will shift the clock time and switch read-outs to kilometres.)

Audi is attuning itself to consumer technology preference as fast as it possibly can.