The Abt family's connection to competition dates to the company's founder, Johann Abt (20 December 1935 – 11 October 2003), who competed as a motorcycling and hillclimbing racer for the Abarth factory team until 1970 and later entered cars under his own team banner. His father Johann Baptist Abt had established the first Abt company in 1896, originally a horseshoeing and blacksmithing business that evolved with the automotive age. Johann Abt's sons Hans-Jürgen and Christian Abt took over following their father's death in 2003. Since 2011, Hans-Jürgen Abt has led the company, which employs around 170 people at its Kempten headquarters and distributes products to more than 50 countries worldwide.
Abt Sportsline GmbH was formally incorporated in 1991 following the earlier "Auto-Abt" business, relocating to Daimlerstrasse in Kempten-Leubas. The company's facilities expanded significantly over subsequent decades, with an extension building opened in October 2002 and a third building added in November 2013 to house the motorsports department.
Abt Sportsline built its racing reputation through the German touring car landscape, winning the Super Touring Car Cup in 1999 before establishing itself as a dominant force in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The team claimed DTM titles in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009, making it one of the most successful operations in the series' modern era. The 2009 season was the team's most decorated, with Timo Scheider winning the DTM drivers' championship, Christian Abt claiming the ADAC GT Masters title, and Daniel Abt winning the ADAC Formel Masters — three championships in a single year across different categories.
From 2004 onward, Abt Sportsline operated under the official banner of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, formalising its status as an Audi factory-supported operation in the DTM.
Abt Sportsline entered the FIA Formula E World Championship from its inaugural 2014–15 season, competing under the Audi Sport umbrella from 2014 to 2021. Lucas di Grassi served as the team's lead driver throughout much of that period, becoming the first driver to win an open-wheel motorsport race in an all-electric car when he triumphed at the 2014 Beijing ePrix. Daniel Abt and René Rast also drove for the squad. The team finished third in the inaugural teams' championship.
Abt Sportsline left the championship after the 2020–21 season when Audi ended its factory involvement. In May 2022, the team announced a return for the 2022–23 season as Abt Cupra Formula E Team, sourcing powertrains from Mahindra Racing and operating without Audi involvement. For the 2024–25 season, the team transitioned to Lola-Yamaha powertrains, entering as the Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team. In November 2024, Lola took over Abt's Formula E entrants' licence, with Abt continuing in the operational management role.
The team also partnered with Cupra for the electric off-road Extreme E series from 2021, competing as Abt Cupra XE before leaving the championship at the end of 2023.
Alongside its motorsport activities, Abt Sportsline operates a substantial aftermarket tuning business covering the full Volkswagen Group product range — Audi, Volkswagen, Škoda, and SEAT. The company produces performance upgrades including engine power enhancements, sport suspension components, aerodynamic bodywork, and lightweight alloy wheels, applying engineering knowledge gained in competition to road-going vehicles. Among the more notable tuning projects has been the Abt R8 GT R, a heavily modified Audi R8 V10 that the company described as a motorsport champion for the road, producing 620 horsepower from its tuned 5.2-litre V10 engine.
Abt Sportsline stands as one of Germany's most enduring motorsport and automotive tuning institutions, combining a century of family heritage with sustained success at the front of the DTM and as a pioneer of factory-level electric racing. Its five DTM titles over a decade with Audi, combined with years at the front of Formula E, place it among the defining team identities of German motor racing in the twenty-first century.