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Audi kicks off A3 celebrity-fest marketing campaign with Dues

Audi is desperate to appeal to young people with its new 2015 A3 sedan. It's planning launch parties around the country to present the new model to these younger buyers, and its latest tactic is a series of videos starring celebrities the company considers trailblazers to further captivate youthful buyers.
The advertising campaign starts with a spot titled Dues starring comedian Ricky Gervais, chef David Chang, photo journalist Lynsey Addario, comedian Kristen Schaal, boxer Claressa Shields, artist collective Cyrcle, and church choir Voices of Destiny. It's being followed up with seven, minute-long online documentaries called Uncompromised Portraits about the folks featured in the new ad. Audi believes that they are all trailblazers who have forged their own way, and it's all supposed to fit with the A3's slogan of "Stay Uncompromised."
Dues will play during the NCAA March Madness tournament. Audi is also running two, 30-second commercials during the games to highlight the sedan's technology and two, 15-second ads to promote its Quattro all-wheel-drive system.

Audi SQ7 TDI would make a compelling option in the US

Intrigued by the prospect of the new Audi SQ7 TDI? We are. And promising though the signs may look, we'll likely still have to wait a while before Audi confirms whether it will bring the new performance diesel crossover to North America, much less announce pricing. But based on the sticker just attached in Europe, the SQ7 looks like a compelling choice – if a difficult one to compartmentalize. Audi has priced its new top-of-the-line crossover at 89,000 euros. Adjust for taxes and exchange rates, we'd likely be looking at an MSRP of roughly $86,000 in US showrooms, if and when it gets the green light from Ingolstadt to embark on the the transatlantic voyage. That places the SQ7 above any diesel crossovers we get in the US, but significantly undercuts the large, gasoline-powered performance SUVs we do get – like the BMW X5 M ($99k), the Mercedes-AMG GLS63 ($124k), and the Porsche Cayenne GTS ($95k) or Cayenne Turbo ($115k). The diesel performance version of the Q7 has more direct competition overseas in the forms of the Porsche Cayenne S Diesel and BMW X5 M50d – but the Audi offers a bigger bang for only a little more buck (or euro) than either. Where Porsche offers 385 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque for ˆ87.4k, and the BMW boasts 381 hp and 545 lb-ft for ˆ85.7k, the Audi trumps both with a prodigious 435 hp and a massive 664 lb-ft for only a little more cash. The SQ7 also outperforms both by a significant margin, reaching 62 miles per hour from a standstill in a scant 4.8 seconds, versus the 5.3 achieved by both the Cayenne S Diesel and X5 M50d. That places Audi's latest in something of a category of its own, leaving its similarly priced but less potent diesel competition in its wake. And with more torque but less power, it rapidly encroaches on the levels of performance offered by the top gasoline-powered performance crossovers – whose 0-62 sprints range from 4.2 seconds (in the X5 M) to 4.6 (in the GLS 63). The question on our minds is whether Audi will bring the new SQ7 TDI to these United States. Our sources tell us the chances are good, but far from confirmed. Our hopes were further raised by its appearance in the latest Captain America movie. But it's the SQ7's performance vis-a-vis the competition – difficult as it may be to categorize – that has whetted our appetites the most.

Audi RS5 gets big turbocharged power and an angry new look

Menace has always been one of the keys to Audi's RS 5 coupe, from the fat wheel arches to the rumbling evocative exhaust note to the brutal straight-line performance. That's not going to change with the new version, but Audi is talking loudly and proudly about how the RS 5 debuts the new RS design language, partly in the hope that people don't labor on the disappearance of its V8 engine. Yes, the all-new RS 5 Coupe uses the same Porsche-engineered biturbo V6 as the Porsche Panamera, and uses it to such effect that it extracts 444 horsepower and 443 pound feet of torque from its 2.9 liters of displacement. Those 443 lb-ft is a full 125 more than the V8 could ever muster, and it's available from 1,900 rpm to 5,000 rpm. That kind of power is sufficient to push the RS 5 to 62 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds on the way to a limited 155-mph top speed (there's an optional 174-mph limiter, too). The all-wheel-drive Quattro RS 5 Coupe doesn't suffer much in performance in the switch from the naturally aspirated 4.2-liter V8 to the force feeding of a V6, but it remains to be proven whether the sound can be as captivating. The Porsche-sourced engine continues the current trend of "hot vee" engines, situating both of its turbochargers inside the vee-angle of the engine, and combines centrally-mounted direct fuel injectors with a short stroke to boost power and improve economy. The high-compression Miller-cycle motor also lets the RS 5 Coupe pull its consumption down 17 percent to 32 miles per gallon (or 197 grams/km of CO2 emissions) on the European driving cycle. Expect US mileage numbers to be significantly lower. The new RS 5 is also significantly lighter, pulling 132 pounds from the previous V8-powered model's mass, despite all the turbo plumbing, to weigh 3,649 pounds. A BMW M4-style carbon-fiber roof helps keep the weight down. Audi feeds its newfound V6 power through an eight-speed automatic transmission and permanent all-wheel drive, with 60 percent of the drive nominally headed to the rear end. The hard-turning sport differential is an option. Audi's reborn RS 5 rides on five-link suspension systems at both ends to keep suspension bits precisely location and improve ride quality, while sitting 0.8 inches lower than the standard A5 Coupe. It has the usual Audi Sport array of go-faster options for its go-fastest front-engined coupe, including the more aggressive Dynamic Ride Control damping system, carbon-ceramic brakes and sharper steering ratios.