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Audi pours $28 million into Silvercar rental company

Want an Audi waiting for you when you land at the airport? Silvercar is the place to turn. The rental car company exclusively stocks fully loaded silver examples of Ingolstadt's finest at airports across the country, available to book via smartphone app with no lines or paperwork. And now the automaker whose vehicles make up its fleet is investing big in the company. Audi's $28-million Series C investment is earmarked to help Silvercar expand into new markets. The company only started in 2012 and already runs locations at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, and Denver. In the last six months alone, it opened new locations in Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, and New York as well. Aside from promoting the rental operation, Audi and Silvercar will collaborate on developing the Audi Shared Fleet program to allow companies to loan vehicles out to their employees. Audi of America chief Scott Keogh will join the Silvercar board, along with Ken DeAngelis from Austin Ventures, which contributed Series B funding alongside Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Audi to lead $28 million Series C equity issue by car rental innovator Silvercar January 04, 2016 | HERNDON, Virginia - Largest equity issuance yet by Silvercar - Funding will help Silvercar and Audi launch the new Audi shared fleet, a turnkey transportation solution on corporate campuses - Investment extends the Audi connection with Silvercar, which bases its fleet exclusively on silver Audi vehicles Audi is leading a new $28 million Series C equity issuance by Silvercar, the next-generation car rental company. The capital raise is the largest yet for Silvercar, which was founded in 2012 with a fleet consisting of silver Audi models. The Series C announcement comes as Silvercar unveils its enhanced digital and mobile platforms designed for an optimized user experience and expands into Las Vegas, its 12th market, all of them in the U.S. Silvercar also received funding from Series B investors, including Austin Ventures and Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook. The funding will enable Silvercar to accelerate its award winning airport car rental business and expand to new markets nationwide. Additionally, as part of the next phase of the Silvercar partnership with Audi, the companies will work in tandem to develop Audi Shared Fleet, a turnkey solution for businesses looking to provide accessible transportation to their employees on corporate campuses.

VW offers to buy back new diesels if bans introduced

By Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT, Germany — Volkswagen will buy back new diesel cars if German cities ban them, it said on Thursday, seeking to reassure potential buyers and stem a plunge in sales of diesel vehicles. Europe's biggest automaker also said it would extend incentives for buyers of new diesel cars. The moves come after a German court ruled last month that cities in the country could ban the most polluting diesel vehicles from their streets. Many German cities exceed European Union limits on atmospheric nitrogen oxide, known to cause respiratory diseases. Fears of bans have led to a plunge in demand for diesel vehicles, which are also key to carmakers' attempts to meet new EU rules on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. While diesel cars are heavily criticized for emitting nitrogen oxide, they spew out less CO2 than gasoline equivalents. Diesel car sales plunged 19 percent in Germany last month. At its core VW brand, Volkswagen said its buyback offer applied to new diesels bought between April 1 and the end of 2018 and would kick in if the city in which the buyer lived or worked banned diesels within three years of the purchase. It said its dealerships would buy back diesel vehicles affected by bans at their current value if their owners at the same time bought a new vehicle that was not affected by cities' driving restrictions. At Czech brand Skoda, the guarantee applies to cars bought between April 1 and the end of June, but will cover bans introduced within four years of the purchase date. At premium brand Audi, the offer only covers leased vehicles. Volkswagen also said it was extending to the end of June incentives for customers trading in older diesels for new ones. Fellow German carmaker BMW said earlier this month it would offer to take back leased vehicles if diesels were banned within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the operator's home or place of work. There has been a global backlash against diesel-engine cars since Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating U.S. exhaust tests. But Germany's government is seeking to avoid widespread bans on heavily polluting diesel vehicles, which companies say could cut the resale value of up to 15 million vehicles in Europe's biggest car market. In Germany, where motorists expect to drive powerful cars on motorways with no speed limits, any restrictions will be unpopular.

Audi Q3 Camping Tent is der neue Aztek

The annual Wörthersee festival is much more than a land of ridiculous one-off concepts for fans of the Volkswagen Group to ogle over. Brands like Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and SEAT actually showoff some real stuff, including accessories for existing vehicles.
While we don't normally cover this (are you really interested in new floormat designs for a Skoda Rapid?), one item on this year's list caught our eye. It's for the Audi Q3, the compact crossover from the Quattro people, and well, it's something we've seen before.
Yes, that's a tent. Much like the Pontiac Aztek before it, Audi debuted a tent kit for the Q3. Now, it's not exactly like the detestable Pontiac. This tent can easily be attached and separated from the car, and it's even rated for wind speeds of up to 43 miles per hour (but not while driving, we'd guess). According to Audi, the inflatable tent can be erected in a mere seven minutes (unlike most tents, which require five hours, seven people and a degree in mechanical engineering).