Category: Audi

According to Autoweek, Audi is considering to sell the future Audi A1 on the American market in order to compete with the successful BMW Mini. Audi does not want to leave BMW alone on the lucrative £12,000 segment in the US and thinks it has the chance to meet a big success by offering a real modern alternative to the retro-Mini.

The Audi A1 has been unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show under the Metroproject Quattro concept. Like the Mini, the A1 will be a three-door vehicle with a very aggressive design. While designed for four people in mind, it will be roomy enough for only two adults. On the concept car, Audi trimmed the interior with aluminum panels and red topstitching on the seats to give a sporty touch.

As usual at Audi, the A1 will offer several variants: expect to see a five-door model, a convertible and, of course, a S1 set to compete with the Mini Cooper S.

The Mercedes CLS-Class success makes other carmakers jealous, especially an aspiring luxury brand like Audi. The latter will unveil at the 2009 New York Auto Show its interpretation of the 4 door coupé. Thanks to Car Magazine and its smuggled sketches, we can catch a glimpse of the future model.

Based on the Audi A6 platform, the A7 will sit between the A6 saloon and the more exclusive A8 model. Like the CLS, it will feature a slopping roof and the interior will be more luxurious than the A6. The rough sketches does not say a lot about the A7 design unfortunately.

Obviously, the car will receive a similar engine range to the A6. Expect to see V6 and V8 engines but also a possible RS7 which will feature the V10 engine. Due to appear in the next Audi RS6, ti produces more than 500 bhp.

Last week we reported the rumour of an A5 Sportback. As Audi seems to build a four door coupé range, might we expect soon some information regarding an A7 Sportback?

Yesterday we reported the A1 sketches scooped by the British magazine CAR. A day later the people at CAR have done it again. They have now released a sketch of the next R8 Spider. Its makes us wonder if they really did smuggle out the sketches as they claim.

Due to be launched in autumn 2009 with a worldwide debut at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Spider features twin speedster humps, which incorporate vents to bring fresh air to the engine. The general design is almost the same as the coupé, apart from Audi’s addition of an aluminium-look panel just behind the doors.

Like the coupé, the convertible version will use the V8 4.2 litre V8 which produces 414bhp/420hp. It will also probably feature the V10 engine, which produces more than 500bhp.

Considering that Audi wants to launch 18 new cars over the next few years, I can’t help but wonder if the supercar Audi A8 will be available one day in a Sportback version.

The British car website CAR has revealed three official design sketches of the future Audi A1 “stolen” from the Ingoldstadt’s design studio. If this is true, it is a disaster for Ingolstadt’s security system.

Due to be launched in 2009, the Audi A1 is Audi’s answer to the highly successful New Mini. Showed in its three door variant on the sketches, the Audi A1 will also offer a five-door hatchback, a coupé and a convertible. Like BMW, Audi plans to offer a large choice of engines. The petrol engines will go from 65 bhp to 170bhp. The diesel units will range from 75bhp to 130bhp. In contrast, the Mini only offers one diesel engine. CAR even talks about a potential S1 that will develop 200bhp.

Audi expects to build 100,000 A1 in VW’s Belgian factory based in Forest. Thanks to the new automaker’s Modular Tranverse Matrix (MQB) platform, the German carmaker expects the car to be cheap to produce and therefore less expensive than the New Mini. According to CAR, the entry-level will start at £10,000/€16,000/$22,000.

Click here to see all the sketches

Source: CAR

Remember the Audi 100/200 Avant models? In the eighties, they were considered the most stylish estates available on the market. The 200 Turbo Quattro Avant model built up a reputation thanks to its famous four wheel drive system and its turbocharged 2.2 litre 5 cylinder engine that produced 220bhp. Well, it seems that the Avant could be set for a comeback in the form of an A5 Sportback.

After the 4 door coupé was popularised by Mercedes through the CLS, I wonder if Audi will try to launch a new niche in the form of the 5 door estate coupé. This may sound like a joke, but if it is in fact serious, the rumoured A5 estate may have hard time meeting with success, positioned as it would be between the Audi A4 and A6 estates. Some critics will argue that a shooting brake would be a better way to extend the Audi range. However, past shooting brake vehicles like the BMW Z3 coupé or the Honda Aerodeck have seldom met with success.

This Audi A5 may just be a rumour, but considering that Audi wants to launch 18 new cars over the next few years and jump from a sales figure of less than 1 million to 1.5 million vehicles, an Audi A5 Sportback may be a good idea. Audi will just have to find the right formula.

The Sportback version will share its platform and its engines with the newly launched A5. Expect to see a large range of TDI engines producing from 140bhp to more than 200bhp. The petrol engines will feature the TFSI units and obviously the 4.2 litre V8 for the sporty RS5.

Click here to see all pictures

The German tuner ABT has revealed its interpretation of the Audi A5. The car distinguishes itself from the crowd with a two-tone paint scheme. This paint scheme takes inspiration from the 70s sports cars. In addition to the traditional black bonnet, ABT created an original paint theme: cream for all body panels except for the bonnet and boot,which are white. Not everybody will like it, but it emphasises its muscular look. 

Under the hood, the 3 litre TDI power jumps from 237 bhp/240 hp to 268 bhp/272 hp. For those who want more power, ABT also offer a 296 bhp/300 hp option.

Audi has announced that it produced 509,000 cars for the first 2007 semester. It is the best figure for a semester in the company’s history. However, the carmaker appears cautious in its forecasts despite a new A4 due to be launched at the end of the year and the fact that the million mark will be passed in 2008.

In comparison, BMW sold 730,285 cars during the same period. Audi’s sales increased on almost every market, even on the highly competitive European market.

Audi recently launched the Audi A5 and the Audi R8. The carmaker is not able to build enough R8 to satisfy demand because of the car’s fibre panels, which are difficult to make. A total of only twenty R8 are built in a day.

The German brand will display its new baby SUV known as Q5 at the next Frankfurt motor show. After the new A4 due to be released at the end of the year, it will launch the long-awaited A3 convertible in summer 2008.

The long-awaited open-top Audi A3 will join the Audi TT coupé and roadster on the assembly lines in Audi’s Hungarian factory. In a statement, Audi declared “”The Gyor (production) site (in western Hungary) has excelled in the production of premium vehicles during recent years … therefore it is optimally suited for the assembly of a new model.“

Commentators may say that the factory was elected thanks to the tax exemption given to Audi by the Hungarian government. Indeed in October 2006, Hungary set up a new solidarity tax – 4% – payable by all companies in order to reduce the public deficit from 10.1% to 3.2%. Unhappy with this development, Audi declared that it would stop investing in Hungary. As the first exporter in the country and employer of more than 5,000 people, the company’s statements tend to be considered as requests. After negotiations, the Hungarian government modified the law to please the German carmaker.

This is not the first tax exemption Audi has received as a sweetener from Hungary. When Audi decided to open a factory in the country, it was offered a profit tax exemption until 2011. Since then, it has invested 3 billion Euros and will invest one billion more to build the Audi A3 convertible.

Source: Reuters
Source photo: Auto, Motor und Sport

The last spyshots show an undisguised RS6 giving some clue concerning the body changes. Compared to the S6, the RS6 appears to lose the LED light strips on the front bumper in order to allow bigger air intakes. At the back, the RS6 replaces the dual exhaust pipes by a single one and a larger diffuser.

The RS6 will get a boosted V10 derived from the Lamborghini Gallardo. According to insiders, it would produce 572 bhp, 143 more than the detuned S6’s engine but more 52 more than the Gallardo.

In terms of power, the Audi A8 4.0 TDI was surpassed by an unexpected opponent, namely the… Volkswagen Phaeton V10 TDI, delivering 313bhp. A weird situation, for Audi is meant to be the luxury brand of the group.
The new V8 4.2 TDI remedies this problem with a power amounting to 326bhp, thanks to 2 turbochargers and new piezoelectric injectors. Yes, this engine is fitted with a common-rail injection system instead of pump-injectors, more efficient but more brutal too.
Power is one thing, torque another: here there’s no less than 650Nm available as soon as 1600rpm, with the help of the variable geometry of the 2 turbos, whose vanes are electrically actuated.
A question remains: why didn’t Audi choose to use the V10 TDI?

The A8 4.2 TDI keeps the Quattro transmission and receives a particulate filter, requiring no maintenance, along with adaptative xenon lights. How can one tell the difference between the former 4.0 and the new 4.2? The latter, like all the A8s now, is adorned with the single-frame grille first seen on the W12 version

With its new heart, the aluminium-framed limousine can dash from 0 to 62 mph in 5.9secs, its top speed being governed to 155mph. The overall consumption allows one to run no less than 25mph: even those who spend more than £50,000 in their car like to save money sometimes.
Now BMW has just released the 300bhp 745d, we can expect a quick response from Mercedes.