Lünen, 4 April 2025. Audi AG and TSR Resource GmbH & Co. KG have developed a return scheme to process materials from end-of-life vehicles and reintroduce them into the automotive supply chain. As a result, Audi will be the first carmaker who wants to strategically integrate post-consumer materials into its supply chain and secure these with TSR via a ‘digital material account’.
Audi will be sending several thousand pre-production cars to be recycled from 2025 onwards. The TSR Group will shred these vehicles, recycle them using high-quality processes and then return them, as recycled raw materials, to specific parts of the supply chain for reuse. The goal here is to use the materials from ELVs to produce new cars.
One central element of this collaboration is the ‘digital material account’, which will allow the recovered recycled raw materials from the ELVs to be credited to Audi. Suppliers can access these raw materials as part of a procurement process. “The potential of recycling is enormous. We are constantly working on increasing the proportion of recycled materials in our vehicles. Audi will be able to procure recycled raw materials as valuable resources, reducing dependency on the market", explained Dr Renate Vachenauer, Audi Board Member for Procurement.
Christian Blackert, managing director of TSR Resource, stressed: “We are really pleased that our work with Audi to take another concrete step towards the circular use of materials in the automotive industry. This project is a striking example of what can be achieved through industry partnerships. At the same time, we aim to reduce dependencies in the supply of raw materials and strengthen the resilience of industrial supply chains in the face of the challenges posed by global markets
This collaboration is an important step towards setting up a circular economy. Looking ahead, further materials and car models should be integrated into the return scheme. The aim is to increase the use of post-consumer materials in Audi’s production processes – without compromising on quality or cost-effectiveness.