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Audi stealthily tests RS4 Avant

With S3s, R8s and RS7s aplenty, Audi offers no shortage of performance models in North America. But one of our favorites is always kept just out of arm's reach. That of course is the RS4 Avant, and here we see Audi Quattro GmbH testing the latest version. Though it may look like a plain old S4 – and even wear S4 badges – the wider fenders and bigger wheels suggest that this is in fact a prototype for the upcoming RS4 Avant. For those unfamiliar, that nameplate connotes the best of all worlds within the A4 range: maximum power, maximum traction, and maximum luggage space. All the ingredients, in short, to make us wonder why anyone would rather drive a crossover. After the first-gen RS4 employed a twin-turbo V6, the subsequent two generations went with a 4.2-liter V8. This model, however, could adopt an electric turbocharger setup to give it all the power it needs (and then some) with a new form of hybrid setup that will soon be spreading across the industry. The bigger question on our mind, of course, is whether the new performance wagon will make the transatlantic voyage to North American showrooms. We're holding out hope that Ingolstadt may make a real run down American roads at the likes of the Mercedes-AMG C63 and BMW M3. Whether it brings the wagon body-style along with it is another matter entirely, but we can always dream. Related Video:

Control your Audi with your Apple TV, if you want to

Not to dash your hopes right up top, but this isn't a way to remotely drive an R8 from the comfort of your living room, or even summon it from the garage. Also, you'll need the new fourth-generation Apple TV (and a real TV hooked up to it) as well as a 2017 A4 or Q7. What Audi is offering is basically a version of the Audi MMI connect app distilled for the streaming media box. Things you can do include locking and unlocking the car, setting it to heat up or cool down before you hop in, and viewing the status of the car. (No screenshot was available from Audi, so you're looking at the iPhone version of the app up top. Just imagine it larger and more horizontal.) Who's it for? People who have the latest Apple TV, a new Audi, and would rather control the latter with the former on a big screen than a smartphone. In other words, we're not sure. We do wager that there's a decent amount of overlap between Audi drivers and tech early adopters, so someone will get excited by this. And since the new Apple TV is based on iOS, it probably wasn't too tough to port the iPhone version of the app over. Like a lot of what we're seeing at CES this week, this is likely a small step in the direction of increasing connectivity between all of the digital stuff in our lives and our cars. We'll get more excited when the family flatscreen turns into a live window of what your car is looking at. But also terrified.

VW may make Bentley a subsidiary of Audi

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen plans to make British luxury carmaker Bentley a subsidiary of its Audi division as it seeks economies of scale among its top-end brands, German trade publication Automobilwoche reported. Bentley, for now overseen by the head of VW's Porsche business, Oliver Blume, will from next year be part of Audi, where VW group Chief Executive Herbert Diess believes it has more potential, Automobilwoche cited company sources as saying. Synergies could include using Audi technology for a new Bentley SUV, it added. Volkswagen, which declined to comment on the report, is reviewing the future of its high-performance brands Lamborghini, Bugatti and Ducati motorcycles as part of broader quest for more economies of scale as it shifts to mass producing electric cars. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this month that Volkswagen was working on plans to prepare Lamborghini for a stock market listing. Related Video: Audi Bentley Volkswagen