2007 Audi Q7 Premium Sport Utility 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Audi supercar not yet approved, R4 not quite dead, still room for an MPV

According to a report by Autocar, all we thought we knew of the in-development Audi supercar we might not actually know. A piece in Car and Driver, not even a month old, said the diesel-hybrid halo car was in the design stages, would get the engine from the R18 E-Tron Quattro and its carbon fiber tub. Now we get word that that while the coupe is indeed being designed, it hasn't yet been signed off and there's no business case for it yet. Said business case, whenever it is built, is also dubious of the diesel aspect of the car at the moment - diesels aren't known for creating Pavlovian purchase responses in buyers in the two key markets of the US and China.
The report suggests that instead of a diesel, the 2014 Le Mans regulations changes "could swing the favour back towards petrol models," which would give the so-called Scorpion a better tie to racing technology. Of course, that also assumes that Audi would contest next year's Le Mans with a gas-powered car. If so, that would be an about-face on the original reasons for the halo sportscar in the first place.
In other news, seems Audi also believes it can slot another sportscar below the R8, it just needs to get the financials sorted. The R4 - a Porsche Boxster-sized roadster - that has been chattered about for years is still in on the table but appears a long way off. Company R&D chief Wolfgang Durheimer said it would need to be mid-engined and bring plenty of tech to separate itself from the TT, but mass-market price point is the catch as is the focus on other segments in the portfolio.

2015 Audi A3 gets augmented reality app in place of owners manual [w/video]

There have been a few, seemingly half-hearted, attempts at reinventing the owner's manual - that thick stack of bone-dry information that you only look at if you're well and truly stumped. Hyundai tried swapping in iPads with the Equus, which didn't really take, while Chrysler switched its owner's manuals to digital form in 2010. Chrysler subsidiary Dodge even released a smart phone app that included all the info contained in the paper manual.
Audi, though, may have taken things to their logical conclusion - augmented reality. While it'll likely be more practical once Google Glass and other wearable tech is adopted on a wide scale, augmented reality allows users to project information on scenes, usually through a phones camera, which is how Audi does it.
Called eKurzinfo, the app looks through your phones camera to identify and explain different parts of the car. According to Metaio, the app's developer, the app recognizes 300 different parts of the car. Our sister site, Engadget, provides the best example of the app's abilities - if you point it at the engine temperature gauge, the app tells you what the gauge measures, and if the reading is too high, eKurzinfo will even show you where to find the coolant tank.

Audi TT Sportback Concept rounds out an icon

That German automakers seem singularly fixated on filling any white space between their models isn't new - the last decade-plus has seen their showrooms overflowing with niche models, some of which seemingly occupy sub-genres of sub-genres. To our eyes, there's often diminishing aesthetic and utilitarian returns to go along with the heightened price tags that accompany these models, but we're beginning to think Audi is tackling its personal diversity initiative best. Unlike the often heavy-handed designs from rivals (we're looking at you, BMW), Ingolstadt seems to be doing doing a more graceful job of carving out models between models. The latest proof of this is the TT Sportback Concept, just unveiled here at the Paris Motor Show.
After showing off its Allroad Shooting Brake Concept in Detroit and, more recently, in the Offroad Concept in Beijing amidst rumors of the TT sports car platform expanding into an entire family, we're not surprised to see this more utilitarian five-door hatchback showcar here in France. This, despite the fact that Audi already counts similarly proportioned A5 Sportback and A7 Sportback models in its lineup.
Of the TT line extension concepts, this Sportback certainly looks the most production ready, with a bare minimum of showcar tinsel masking realistic proportions and detailing. We think it's quite handsome from stem to stern, even if it's a bit familiar looking. The design incorporates Audi's trademark big-grille look with the TT's prominent arched roofline and heavily radiused fenders, along with a rear lighting graphic that subtly echoes the A3. Despite its leggy looks, the TT Sportback Concept is surprisingly compact, spanning less than a foot longer overall than the production 2016 TT despite its 4.7-inch longer wheelbase and extra set of doors. Those sleek looks come at least partially as the result of an overall height that sits 1.2 inches lower than the TT coupe.