INTERVIEW: Ken Block goes electric with Audi. I'm a professional driver and I can be bought away from Ford.

I gotta make as much money as I can before I have to start drinking Geritol martinis..... shaken..... not stirred of course or before racing croaks me.

I wish they wouldn't use the word mobility...it sounds like wheel chairs for seniors.
I wish they would quit using electric and start being honest by saying battery, but that won't sell the public on owning one.

385 shares
share
tweet
emailBy Eric Johnson | November 18, 2022 3:44 PM ET

In 1932 German auto manufacturer Audi merged with automobile companies Horch, DKW and Wanderer to form Auto Union. During the period, Auto Union created the line: ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, or ‘Being ahead through technology.’ The modern era for Audi began in the 1960s when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen. In 1965 the brand was relaunched as Audi with the “Being Ahead through Technology” line stamped into the company’s processes and products.

Fast-forward nearly 60 years and that slogan rang true with Ken Block.

“Audi is the brand that ignited my brand for motorsport,” said Block in a 2021 news release announcing his partnership with the brand. “Together, we will develop innovative projects and push the boundaries of electric mobility.”

RACER sat down with him to learn more.



Q: Audi, electricity… you’re in something of a new dimension now, aren’t you?

KEN BLOCK: Yeah, it has been a pretty cool ride here doing these gymkhana films and really living out my dreams of being a rally driver, and driving cars this impressive and making cool marketing projects like this. To be able to work with great brands like Ford and Subaru was incredible and building amazing projects like the Hoonicorn has really been a wild experience, but then to be able to take a step up into the future with an incredible brand like Audi has been amazing. And it pays better.

Audi has been willing to kind of put things out on the line and create some really unique and quite dynamic projects around e-cars like the S1 Hoonitron they built me, and it has just been incredibly cool. I mean, Audi is the brand that influenced me to like rallying when I was younger. Now I’m working with them and they’re building me amazing cars and I get to go create these incredible film projects like ELECTRIKANHA in Vegas with them.

It is beyond a dream come true at this point. It really is incredible to also be on the forefront of developing electric car technologies, and the development of cool products around it is just wild. There are not very many Elvis performance EVs out there, especially one-off prototypes like the Hoonitron, so it was amazing to have them build me this car and then work with us to develop it to really perform in ways that I’ve just never experienced with other cars.....and...I get to meet Elvis in Vegas.

Q: How did the Audi connection come together?

KB: My business partner in Hoonigan, Brian Scotto, is an absolute Audi nerd and he’s had many Audis through the years.
Drove them on the street, blew up the engines, or crashed and wadded them up like scrap metal. He’s been working with them for several years now, and when my contract was up with Ford he mentioned the possibility of us working together cause he needs a job too. . It took a few years to put it all

together, it wasn’t something that happened overnight. It all really aligned with Audi wanting to push their performance message in the EV space. They saw us as a great way to create a whole different message than what the other EV brands are doing out there in the marketplace. We have a very distinct audience with Hoonigan and I have a very big fanbase with

what I do with rally and gymkhana and rallycross, so to combine all of that together with some very great performance products was something that Audi really likes. We put together a great program that works well for both of us and it’s been a really fun ride.