“Technology is propulsion.” Chinese characters written on the wall of factory workshop.
The German term for "to lead" would be "führen".
There’s definitely a sense of ‘getting a head start’, ‘being at an advantage’ to Vorsprung that is hard to capture in a single English word.
Perhaps one way to translate it would be: Privilege through technology
If Audi wanted to say ‘progress through technology’, why isn’t the slogan ‘Bewegung durch Technik’? Bewegung very much has the sense of ‘progress’, but also has a double sense of ‘movement’, both in the sense of physical movement as well as a social movement. All of which are strong connotations the English word ‘progress’ captures. And would be a good slogan for a car company, too.
But that isn’t the word they chose, so progress is a slightly unsatisfactory translation.