HERNDON, Va. — Audi was named the Highest Premium Brand for the Autobytel and AutoPacific 2012 Ideal Vehicle Awards (IVA). Based on a survey of over 75,000 new-car and light-truck owners, the IVAs recognize the cars that meet their owner's expectations and desires about their automotive purchases.

Contributing to this standing was a sweep of the Aspirational Luxury Car category by the Audi A4, Audi A5 and Audi A6. The Audi Q5 and Q7 also had strong showings in their crossover SUV categories. All vehicles included in the survey represented the Audi 2012 model year.

Based on the largest single-model-year survey of automotive owners, the IVAs are designed to help consumers make informed vehicle purchase decisions with a true "peer-to-peer" survey. The IVAs recognize vehicles where owners wanted the least amount of change across 15 key vehicle attributes. They include exterior styling; exterior size; passenger spaciousness; cargo space; driver's seat comfort; driver's seat visibility; infotainment technology; interior lighting; power and acceleration; ease of getting in and out; interior storage compartments; ride; handling; safety features; and tires and wheels.

Making a clean sweep of the Aspirational Luxury Car category, the Audi A4, Audi A5, and Audi A6 took top honors. The only cars in its class to offer Quattro all-wheel drive, the A4 and A5 are progressive takes on top-down driving, touting an award-winning 2.0 TFSI(R) engine that provides 211 horsepower and 258 lb-ft. of torque. Design refinements give the A4 and A5 model-line athletic elegance, most noticeably with the available unmistakable Audi xenon plus lighting with LED daytime running lights and tail lamps, according to both companies.

The award-winning 2012 Audi A6 boasts an all-aluminum 3.0 L TFSI supercharged V6 engine with 310 horsepower. One of Audi's most innovative and technologically-advanced models to date, the A6 makes up to 2,000 decisions per second to assist the driver. Safety in the all-new Audi A6 is enhanced by a thermal imaging camera with Night Vision Assistant, the Audi Pre-Sense Plus safety system and quattro all-wheel drive technology. Other intelligent features include head-up display and a MMI Touch pad that recognizes handwriting in multiple languages.

The survey reflects the views of over 75,000 automotive owners who have owned their 2012 vehicles for 90 days. It then measures any changes that the owners would make to their new car or light truck.