Filed under: Classics , Performance , Hatchback , Audi , Design/Style Audi SWB Sport Quattro – Click above for high-res image gallery Audiphiles, prepare to have your lederhosen wrinkled. While speaking with Autocar , Peter Birtwhistle went and called the legendary SWB Sport Quattro “bloody ugly.” While Birtwhistle is currently the chief designer at Mazda Europe, he’s particularly well-suited to comment on the lines of the boxy Audi . After all, he designed the thing.
Filed under: Audi , Electric Audi e-tron concept – Click above for high-res image gallery By the year 2020, Audi hopes to be the “leading premium seller of electric vehicles,” Franciscus van Meel, the automaker’s manager for electric mobility, told AutoWeek during a recent technical workshop at the company’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany. In addition to launching a number of hybrid vehicles (including the A8 and Q5 ) over the next few years, Audi plans to debut a plug-in hybrid in 2014. Exactly what sort of plug-in hybrid we’ll actually see hasn’t been disclosed just yet, but the whole business is part of Audi’s e-tron division – the folks that gave us beauties like the R8 -based e-tron supercar (pictured above) that debuted at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show
Filed under: Performance , Wagon , Videos , Hatchback , Audi 2011 Audi RS3 gets the silent film treatment – Click above to watch video after the jump We already let you know earlier this week that Audi has unveiled the 2011 RS3 five-door hot hatch, and now we have video of the sporty German schnell machine. Unfortunately, this is not a video for those eager to hear the 340 horsepower turbocharged 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder engine or the screaming of four abused rounds of rubber. The clip we have is more of a put-on-your-favorite-song and stare.
Filed under: Performance , Europe , Hatchback , Audi , Luxury 2011 Audi RS 3 Sportback – Click above for high-res image gallery After months of spy shots and speculation, Audi has released its official information on the RS 3 Sportback. The mean little bruiser will come to the fight with 340 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque courtesy of a turbo 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine mated to a seven-speed S Tronic dual-clutch transmission. With over 17 psi of boost breathing on the five-pot, Audi says that the RS 3 Sportback is good for a 0-60 mph run of just 4.6 seconds.
Performance and driving experience that electrify. The new Audi Q5 hybrid quattro.
Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Technology , Audi Stanford University Autonomous Audi TTS – Click above for high-res image gallery The autonomous Audi TTS built by Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab, Stanford University and Audi has taken an important first step toward its ultimate goal: participating in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The self-driving TTS officially completed a test run – all the way to the 14,110 foot summit – earlier this year, clocking a time of 27 minutes, which is pretty good considering that race officials typically expect a human driver to do it in around 17 minutes