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Audi's Quattro division is now Audi Sport, and it has 8 new models on the way

Audi announced today that its Quattro GmbH performance and technology division will officially be renamed Audi Sport GmbH. The name change is the first since the division's introduction in 1983, and it should more clearly describe its function within the company and remove confusion with the Quattro all-wheel-drive system offered on all Audis, sporty or not. With its new name, Audi Sport will continue to handle the brand's RS models, the R8, customer race cars, customized road cars, and Audi Sport lifestyle products. While the clearer new name is good news, we're more interested in the division's announcement that it will release eight new cars in the next 18 months. The company didn't reveal exactly which cars these will be, but it did clarify which cars Audi Sport is currently responsible for. These include all variants of the RS 3, RS Q3 crossover, RS 6, RS 7, TT RS, R8, and S8 plus. Since the A4/S4 and A5/S5 models were just redone, we can guess that they will be next on the list for RS-ification, resulting in new RS 4 and RS 5 models. If that includes Sportback, coupe, and cabrio versions of the RS 5, and an RS 4 sedan and Avant, that would put us up to five already. Both the A6 and A7 have only seen a minor refresh recently, so it's likely that we'll see new versions of each soon followed by their own RS variants. However, whether those fit in the 18-month window will depend on how soon we see the standard models. Our other guesses are a bit fuzzier, and based completely on speculation. We could imagine one or two ultra-high-performance R8 models being announced – something like the last-gen R8 GT, perhaps offered in coupe and spyder forms – as well as RS versions of the other members in Audi's crossover fleet, the Q5 and Q7. It's also possible one of the models could be a new customer race car, since Audi Sport currently builds and sells the R8 LMS race car. At the very least, we know the Audi Sport folks are busy and people will no longer get them confused with an all-wheel-drive system. Related Video:

Audi SQ7 coming, will have electric turbo

Formula 1 and endurance racing are already harvesting energy from turbos on the track, and now it's apparently time for a similar idea of boosting the efficiency of forced induction to hit the streets in a high-performance, diesel SUV.
In a recent interview with the UK's Autocar, Audi technical boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg let the big news slip. "The new Q7 will be available in the market next year but the electric turbo will come a bit later in the Audi SQ7 available in 2016," he said. The e-turbo system was already rumored for the premium SUV but for the standard model, not this just-announced performance version.
Audi has been experimenting with the e-turbo system for a little while, as an electrically driven supercharger. It showed up on the RS5 TDI concept that used a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged diesel V6 plus the electric system to diminish turbo lag. In that application, it provided an impressive 385 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque and an alleged sprint to 62 miles per hour in 4 seconds. Although, Dr. Hackenberg didn't make it clear if this was the exact layout for the SQ7.

VW will expand goodwill package to larger diesels

Volkswagen Group of America will expand its goodwill package to affected owners of the VW Touareg and other models with the 3.0 TDI. The company may also replace the catalytic converter on some cars equipped with the 2.0-liter four-cylinder TDI engine to bring it into compliance with US emissions. VW Group of America boss Michael Horn told Reuters he plans announce the goodwill program's expansion to the 2009-2016 Touareg during the Detroit Auto Show, and company spokesperson Jeannine Ginivan also confirmed this to Autoblog. Audi intends to extend the offer to its affected owners, too. As with the previous goodwill package, participating customers would receive a $500 prepaid Visa card and $500 to use at dealers. The EPA issued a violation notice against the 3.0 TDI in November and later extended it to additional model years. Audi later admitted that the engine, which was also in the Touareg and Porsche Cayenne, had undisclosed emissions management software. However, the automaker limited the goodwill package only to the 2.0-liter powerplant while it investigated the allegations against the larger mill. VW has not announced a recall plan in the US for the 2.0 TDI so far, but VW Group CEO Matthias Muller recently outlined a possible solution that could fix about 430,000 of the 482,000 affected vehicles. "We have one [catalytic converter] in the works and we believe that will be a part of the technical solutions," he told Reuters. Muller plans to discuss the repair while in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to meet with the EPA. "I think we can now offer a package that will come very close to what the EPA is expecting from us," Muller said to Reuters. He also suggested the company might buy back some affected models but didn't confirm the recent rumor claiming that the buy-back may cover as many as 115,000 cars.