The most extreme version of Audi’s supercar has more power and less weight. But can it be worth £144000

Filed under: Concept Cars, Frankfurt Motor Show, Convertible, Coupe, Audi, Electric

Audi didn’t release any additional information the on the Audi Urban Concept today, but it did let loose a photo rendering album of the e-tron-branded concept in coupe and roadster forms that we’ll soon get to know in Frankfurt. Powered by two electric motors, the driver and passenger will get to their staggered seating positions through the tailgate, and can let the sun shine in through the sliding canopy once there if they’re in the coupe.

We look forward to finding out if all this is as funky in person as it is in print. Until then, there’s that bunch of photos to check out in the high-res gallery.

Audi Urban Concept rendered originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uncompromising dynamics combined with an unmatched open-top driving experience: the Audi R8 GT Spyder.

Filed under: Coupe, Sedan, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury, Comparisons

Which Is Better Depends On Where You’re Sitting

“This car has an identity crisis. The aggressive exterior, brash exhaust note and firm ride say ‘sport,’ but the interior screams ‘grandma!’”

Strong words, especially when they originate from a stranger named Stephen sitting in the back seat of the $80,995 Mercedes-Benz some 80 miles from where we picked him up. The 31-year-old real estate broker and five other industry outsiders were invited to spend the day with AudiMobiles to help us compare the 2012 Audi A7 3.0T to the 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS550.

These two vehicles have met head-to-head before, but not on these pages. To make things a bit more interesting, the decision was made to review these “four-door coupes” not only from the driver’s perspective, but from all four seating positions. The unique comparison would require each of the vehicles to carry 700-plus pounds of passengers comfortably from the flatlands of the hot LA Basin up to the cool mile-high elevations of Big Bear Lake and back. The winner would be determined by a simple vote.

As this task called for six warm bodies willing to be chauffeured 160 miles over a long afternoon, AudiMobiles’s Facebook page was enlisted to recruit. Within 24 hours, we had our six smiling volunteers fingered.

Continue reading Audi A7 3.0T takes on the Mercedes-Benz CLS550

Audi A7 3.0T takes on the Mercedes-Benz CLS550 originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hybrid, Audi

Diesel-lovin’ Audi is slowly, slowly coming to grips with this whole hybrid thing. Earlier this year, the “We’re not against hybrids” automaker finally gave out some real information about its hybrid Q5 (after years of teases and killing the program once,) and we saw the A6 hybrid at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Today, Audi is making good on the promise it made at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010 when it showed off a thinly disguised hybrid A8 concept.

Due out in 2012 (coincidentally, the 15th anniversary of the Toyota Prius), the A8 hybrid should appeal to customers who crave the German automaker’s style and dislike stopping for petrol every third day. The A8 hybrid uses a 2.0 TFSI engine and an electric motor to crank out a peak output of 180 kW (245 horsepower) and 480 Nm (345.03 lb-ft) of torque. Audi says all that power and style will come with 37 mpg (U.S.), which doesn’t put the A8 at the top of the hybrid efficiency pack – remember, the A8 is huge – but it beats the pants off of the gas-only A8, which the EPA rates at 18/28/21 (city/highway/combined) mpg.

Even better for late night stealth missions to the golf course, the A8 hybrid can go three kilometers (1.86 miles) and up to 60 km/h (37.28 mph) using nothing but energy stored in its 1.3 kWh lithium-ion battery. Once the luxury sedan is up to speed, it can move down the highway at speeds of up to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) on battery power, too. These are all good numbers (if only estimations from Audi, for now), and we eagerly await the chance to see how the A8 Hybrid operates in the real world. Until that time, check out the gallery below and read more details in the press release available after the jump.

Continue reading Audi spills the beans on production 37 mpg A8 Hybrid

Audi spills the beans on production 37 mpg A8 Hybrid originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Audi

Audi has a hot seller on its hands. If we forced you to guess which model (and didn’t let you read the title of this post), you might assume that we’d be talking about the A6 or even the Q5. Nope. The four-ringed automaker is watching its all-new 2011 A8 flagship sedan doing its best impression of hot cakes.

In fact, the stylish luxo-barge is selling so well that it’s required Audi to hire more plant workers. According to Automotive News, Audi is boosting production of the A8 by 57 percent, and it needs more hands on deck to help keep the lines moving at the automaker’s Neckarsulm, Germany assembly plant. The A8 still has a ways to go in matching its German luxury brethren for global volume, but the new model appears to be on the right track.

Audi A8 a hot seller out of the gates, nearly 60% boost in production planned originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Frankfurt Motor Show, Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Audi

It may be hard to believe, but the Audi R8 has already been on the market for five years. And while it was cutting edge then and is still eminently fresh and desirable by any account, sooner or later it’s going to need a bit of a touch-up up to keep ahead of the competition. And this could be our first look at what to expect.

Apparently leaked out together with some other photos, this solitary shot is believed to be a design mock-up of the front-end of the next R8. The nose features Audi’s latest hexagonal grille shape and a very sharp-looking set of all-LED headlamps that (with apologies to Bryan Adams fans) cut like a knife across the car’s face.

Mechanically, the new R8 is likely to carry over the existing choice of V8 or V10 engines with Quattro all-wheel drive, although prototypes have reportedly been seen with 2.5 and 3.0-liter TFSI engines driving the rear wheels only. What is understood is that the much-derided R-tronic transmission will finally be replaced with a better dual-clutch gearbox.

Sources speculate that Audi could be preparing to unveil the new R8 at the rapidly approaching Frankfurt Motor Show, but that could prove little more than wishful thinking. One way or another, we’ll find out soon enough, so watch this space for more.

Is this the face of the next Audi R8? originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Audi, Racing

Having dominated rallying in the 1980s and Le Mans prototype racing since the turn of the millennium, Audi has grown accustomed to the checkered flag. But that’s always been with manufacturer-backed works teams. So when Ingolstadt launched the R8 LMS in 2008, it charted new territory.

The GT3 racing version of the cutting-edge supercar was the first racecar built by Audi specifically for customer racing teams, and it has been a virtually unprecedented success. This past weekend, in fact, the R8 LMS scored its 100th win when Hitotsuyama Racing took the checkered flag in the GT3 Asia Series race at Suzuka.

That’s a remarkable achievement for one car. All told, the 100 race wins were chalked up by 41 cars being fielded in 18 racing series around the world, in which the R8 LMS has won a remarkable one in every three races it’s entered. That in itself is quite a feat, and you can read more about it in the press release after the jump.

Continue reading Audi celebrates 100th win of the R8 LMS

Audi celebrates 100th win of the R8 LMS originally appeared on AudiMobiles on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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