Items tagged with Audi
Audi has a new racing car that is built based on the street-legal R8 V10 car that you can use to cruise around Main Street. The car is called the R8 LMS GT2, and while it's a hard top, Audi says that the racing car chassis has more in common with the Spyder than the coupe version of the R8. The car is designed to be driven by anyone who can afford the £303,000 asking price in a racing series called Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) in the GT2 class. The car should be quite the performer; its 5.2L V10 engine that is taken from the street car has been massaged to bump power from the 612 bhp of the road version to 630 bhp for the R8 LMS GT2. While Audi crams more horsepower into the...
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Tesla got the ball rolling with the modern take on electric vehicle back in 2012 with the Model S, and arguably no other manufacturer has been able to combine the good looks and long range into a competing production vehicle...yet. The closest to matching the luxuries afforded by Tesla matched with a long driving range and good looks comes from Germany, and Audi has just teased its it upcoming Q4 E-Tron. The Q4 E-Tron is a compact crossover vehicle that will slot under the current E-Tron mid-sized crossover EV. The vehicle will be built on Volkswagen's new MEB platform, which will form the basis of a wide range of electric vehicles across the company's corporate brands. Size wise, expect...
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It seems as though everyone is gunning for Tesla these days, and given the American EV company's success, it's understandable. Just yesterday, we reported that Nissan is actively developing the IMs to rival the Model 3 and Model S. Now, it's being reported that Audi has given the green light to produce the PB18 e-tron supercar that was first unveiled back in August. Bram Schot, who serves as Audi's chief in The Netherlands, told Auto Week NL that it will produce an extremely limited run of the vehicle. Just how limited? Schot stated that the German company will produce around 50 units. The PB18 e-tron would most directly compete with Tesla's second-generation...
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We might need a pinch of salt to go with this news, but word on the street is that Audi is set to bring its range-topping performance versions of the A6 and A6 Avant to the United States. That’s right, if this report is accurate, that means that we will soon see both the RS6 (sedan) and the RS6 Avant (wagon) to join the next-generation RS 7 Sportback. Audi has been reticent to bringing the hardcore versions of its A6 to the U.S. market, but sources for CarBuzz indicate that both performance models will be sold here by the year 2020. The news of the RS6, while surprising, isn’t too far out of the realm of possibility. However, the idea that the RS6 Avant will make it...
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Samsung is making a big leap into the automotive sector with the announcement of the Exynos Auto V9 SoC. This is Samsung’s very first chip designed specifically for the automotive sector and is built using an 8nm manufacturing process. According to Samsung, the Exynos Auto V9 is an 8-core design using Cortex-A76 CPU cores (operating at up to 2.1GHz) along with a Mali G76 GPU and can be paired with either LPDDR4 or LPDDR5 DRAM. The Exynos Auto V9 features four HiFi 4 audio processors, a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) and supports Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL)-B standards. 2020 Audi e-tron interior The SoC is capable of supporting twelve cameras and up to six displays...
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Audi has unveiled its refreshed R8 sports car in both coupe and spyder form; both versions of the ride get an extensive update for the 2019 model year. One of the most interesting features of the R8 is that it leans very heavily on Audi's participation in motorsports with the automaker claiming that the 2019 Audi R8 shares 50% of its parts with the R8 LMS GT3 racing car and 60% of its parts are the same as the R8 LMS GT4 racer. Audi claims that no other automobile on the market is as close to motor racing as the new R8. One of the core components of the updated R8 is more powerful engines with two flavors of the potent V10 offered; Audi won’t say exactly what the power output of those engines...
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Audi has been teasing the world with little tidbits and glimpse of its e-tron electric SUV for a while now. The teasing is finally over with Audi making the e-tron official and giving up all the details on the green ride along with pricing information. The e-tron SUV will be available globally with $1,000 reservations underway now (as promised in July) for a mid-2019 delivery. The EV is a five-seat mid-size SUV that sitting firmly in the premium SUV market. E-tron is 193-inches long, 76.3-inches wide, and 65.5-inches high with a 115.1-inch wheelbase giving plenty of room for people and cargo. The total luggage capacity in the trunk of the e-tron is 28.5 cu ft with the seats up, and up to...
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German automaker Audi is not messing around with its latest concept car, the PB 18 E-Tron. For all intents and purposes, this nifty (and futuristic) looking vehicle is an electric hypercar (or supercar, if you prefer the term) with copious horsepower and torque for plenty of get up and go, never mind that it's rocking a battery operated drive system. The PB 18 E-Tron features three electric motors, one up front and two more in the rear. Those latter two are centrally located between the steering knuckles, each driving one wheel via half-shafts. They combine to deliver 600 horsepower to all four wheels. Or in terms of electric power, they deliver 150 kW to the front axle and 450 kW to the rear,...
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Audi has been talking about its E-tron Quattro electric SUV for several months now, with the German automaker most recently announcing a delay. In a follow-up to that, Audi says it is planning to unveil the E-tron Quattro on September 17 during a global launch event in San Francisco, California, at which time it will begin taking pre-orders. "We’re introducing a premium, customer-centric vehicle in a premium, customer-centric way," said Scott Keogh, president of Audi of America. "With our owners and our dealers, this process allows us to offer transparency from reservation and build all the way through delivery." The E-tron Quattro is fully electric, five-passenger SUV aimed at the premium...
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Audi is working hard on electrification for its range of cars and SUVs. The automaker has talked up and shown off several e-tron EVs over the years, including in 2015 when it promised to deliver a production e-tron EV crossover to fight the Tesla Model X. Fast forward a few years and we have some new details on the e-tron Quattro SUV EV and its aerodynamic performance. Aerodynamics are particularly important on an EV as the more slippery the vehicle, the farther it can drive per charge. Audi has said that it is expecting the SUV to go for about 250 miles per charge. Audi claimed that it would have the best aero drag performance of an SUV back in 2015 at 0.25, which was then beat by Tesla and...
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It seems as though everyone and their grandma is out to take down the Tesla Model S. Tesla's flagship has been at the top of the electric vehicle (EV) food chain since production started in 2012 and has seen a number of upgrades since that time. The latest competitor that will enter the fray is coming from a well-known luxury car manufacturer: Audi. Audi announced this week that it will be launching the e-tron GT in 2020, which will be a performance-oriented, low-slung EV sedan. Solidifying the e-tron GT's performance credentials are the fact that it will be based on the same platform as the Porsche Mission-E. The Mission-E is yet another vehicle that has aspirations of embarrassing the Model...
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When it comes to flagship luxury sedans, vehicles that often come to mind include the BMW 7-Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8 and Lexus LS. Today, it is Audi’s time to shine, as the German automaker just pulled the wraps off its all-new A8. Audi bills the new A8 as the most advanced luxury sedan on the planet, and we have no reason to doubt those claims. Right off the bat, every single A8 will be a mild hybrid, which means each includes a 48-volt electric system enabling stop/start operation of the gasoline (or diesel) engine when stopped and turning off the engine when the vehicle is coasting (and then back on again when the accelerator pedal is pushed). However, the feature that...
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How would you like it if Android was behind the operating system powering your instrument cluster and the display screen mounted in the center of your dashboard? No, we’re not talking about the Android Auto intermediary that is being supported by more and more auto manufacturers, but the full-blown Android operating system. Google is set to unveil such an endeavor this week at Google I/O. According to the Bloomberg, Google’s efforts would put it in direct head-to-head combat with BlackBerry’s QNX operating system, which is found in over 50 million cars traveling the world’s roads. But whereas the Android Auto interface in effect runs on your smartphone and is projected onto your vehicle’s display...
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Have you ever honked at someone because they did not realize the red traffic light had turned green? If they are an Audi driver, this situation should no longer be a problem. Audi recently announced the “traffic light information system” -- a service which informs drivers when a traffic light is about to turn green. Scott Keogh, President of Audi of America, noted, “Continuous innovation in connected car services and advanced driver assistance systems that enrich and improve the customer experience is at the core of the Audi brand and our collective future.” Traffic light information is an Audi PRIME feature and will allow vehicles to communicate with the infrastructure in select metropolitan...
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Qualcomm showed up at CES armed with a number of announcements. Some of the highlights include a new smartphone that utilizes the Snapdragon 820 processor from Letv, the Snapdragon 820 Automotive Family with Zeroth machine intelligence, and Audi’s selection of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 602A processors for its 2017 vehicles. Letv will be the world’s first tech company to use the Snapdragon 820 processor in its next generation of smartphone devices. The first phone to use this processor will be the Le Max Pro. This new smartphone will feature Snapdragon Sense ID fingerprint technology with the new liveness detection capability that is designed to detect an actual finger is being used...
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It looks as though everyone it gunning for Tesla Motors these days. Aston Martin is developing an 800hp, all-electric version of its Rapide luxury sedan to do battle with the Model S, and we saw yesterday that Porsche is clearly gunning for the Model S with the Mission E Concept. Now the Volkswagen Group has pulled wraps off its vision of a luxury crossover for the future: the Audi e-tron quattro Concept. Not surprisingly, the crossover looks very similar to the renders that were leaked a few months back, showcasing a body that has a nice mixture of muscular curves and just enough creases to make things interesting. You won’t mistake it for anything but an Audi, which could be either a good thing...
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When it comes to electric vehicles, Tesla Motors tends to suck all of the oxygen out of the room. The company first dazzled us with the two-seat all-electric Roadster, then followed up with the gorgeous Model S. The company is just weeks away from delivering the first Model X crossovers to paying customers and is just a little over a year away from unveiling its “affordable” Model III electric sedan. In the grand scheme of things, however, Tesla is just a tiny player compared to some of the well-entrenched automakers around the globe. One such powerhouse is the Volkswagen Group, and more specifically, its Audi division. Audi announced this week that it has partnered with LG Chem and Samsung...
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Nokia may be down, but it’s not out. The company stands to rake in $2.8 billion from a deal today in which the former cell phone behemoth is selling off its HERE mapping and location services business. Nokia first started looking for buyers in April while considering a deal with Alcatel-Lucent. Today, the move should help Nokia trim fat and build up cash in advance of the planned merger. A consortium of auto companies, including Audi, BMW and Daimler bought Nokia’s HERE mapping business. The consortium is paying $2.8 billion, but Nokia says it expects to receive in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion when all is said and done. “With this step, we complete the latest stage of Nokia’s transformation,”...
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If you're old enough to remember The Jetsons, a cartoon series that ran from 1962 to 1988, you probably thought we'd all be taking to the skies in flying cars by now. We're not there yet, but in place of flying cars, automakers and wealthy tech companies are testing out autonomous vehicles. Several prototypes already exist, including Audi's revised R8 E-Tron that broke cover at CES Asia.The self-driving R8 E-Tron is also an electric vehicle, resulting in a marriage of two cutting edge technologies. Equipped with a T-shaped battery with a 92 kWh capacity and two electric motors, the R8 E-Tron delivers 456 horsepower and 679 pound-feet of torque. On the track, it can go from 0-62 miles per...
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If you drive or ride in any vehicle theses days — aside from outliers like the Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf, or Ford Focus Electric — it’s likely powered by a petroleum-based fuel, be it gasoline or diesel. Audi (and the Volkswagen Group as a whole), however, is looking at alternative fuel sources that are more environmentally friendly and sustainable than fossil fuels and have come with a rather ingenious solution to replacement traditional gasoline: e-benzin. E-benzin is a synthetic gasoline that Audi developed in conjunction with French company Global Bioenergies. For now, the process begins with glucose that is derived from corn (I’m starting to have ethanol flashbacks). From there, the glucose...
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We know that McLaren knows how to make supercar as witnessed by the 650S. And the company is no stranger to the hypercar arena either thanks to the P1 (and the legendary F1). The P1 employs a twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 engine and a hybrid powertrain to pump out an astonishing 903 hp, which is good enough to rocket the vehicle to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds and top out at 217 mph. If the 650S is too rich for your blood, then don’t even bother asking about the P1. But if you want a slightly less frantic sports car that is priced below $200,000, McLaren has introduced its new Sport Series to take on the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8, and Mercedes-AMG GT. At the heart of the 570S is...
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Following the introductions of the dynamic-looking Ford GT and Acura NSX in January (not to mention the Ferrari 488 GTB), forgive me if I’m a bit “meh” on the redesign of the new Audi R8. The inspiration for R8 was unveiled in 2003 as the Le Mans quattro concept. The production version of the vehicle didn’t enter production until 2008, and here we are now with the second-generation model. Styling wise, the all-new R8 borrows heavily from its predecessor while also picking up a few design cues from its lesser TT sibling. Audi R8 V10Add it all up and it’s a design that won’t be mistaken for anything other than an R8, and shows an evolutionary cadence that is more in step with the design progression...
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