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Audi reveals R8 E-Tron Piloted Driving concept at CES Asia

Designed as they are to take the driver out of the equation, you might think that the idea of an autonomous vehicle would seem diametrically opposed to that of a supercar. But Audi disagrees. The German automaker has cooked up a series of "piloted driving" concepts that are increasingly focused on performance, and this could be the ultimate iteration yet. Audi's latest Piloted Driving demonstrator is based on the R8 E-Tron. It's altogether almost identical to the one we saw in Geneva, packing an electric powertrain to deliver 456 horsepower, 679 pound-feet of torque and a 0-62 time of 3.9 seconds. Only in this case, it can do it all on its own, without any driver intervention. To pull that off, Ingolstadt has fitted this show car with an array of sensors, including a new laser scanner, multiple video cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar transmitters at both ends – all handled by a central "driver assistance control unit." It's the latest in a series of concept cars that has already included a version of the RS7 Sportback designed to lap the racetrack, and the Prologue concept that drove itself to CES. This concept was similarly unveiled at CES Asia, the Eastern counterpart to the tech expo we usually catch in Las Vegas. Just what the point is in engineering (or buying) one of the best-driving cars on the market and then handing over its operation to a computer, we don't quite get. But at least we can rest easy knowing that Audi is not giving up on performance as autonomous tech turns the driver into just another passenger. Related Video: Audi R8 e-tron piloted driving technical concept car 340 kW of power, 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 3.9 seconds and a driving range of 450 km (279.6 mi) – Audi has extensively developed its all-electrically powered high-performance R8 e-tron sports car further. The technology study is one of the highlights of CES Asia, and it brings together future technologies – which relate to lightweight design, high-performance drive systems and functions for piloted driving. The Audi R8 e-tron piloted driving concept car is based on the multimaterial Space Frame of the new production R8. A rear car body module made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) integrates the luggage compartment, which extends the frame structure. The walls of the luggage compartment shell are corrugated, so that they can absorb extreme amounts of energy with little material weight in case of a rear-end collision.

'Worldwide, every third Audi will be an SUV by 2020'

Automotive News Europe reports the new Audi manufacturing facility in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico will increase the automaker's production capacity for the Q5 SUV by 150,000 units per year. While the plant will supply every market with the exception of China, most of the production is slated to head to the US.
While speaking with ANE, Audi CEO Rupert Stradler said, "Worldwide, every third Audi will be an SUV by 2020." So far this year, 40 percent of Audi vehicles sold in the US have been light trucks, with the company's sales in that segment jumping by 53 percent. By comparison, Audi passenger car sales have increased by just one percent.
The first Q5 vehicles from the San Hose Chiapa plant will show up on dealer lots in 2016. Audi of America recently received a larger 9,000-unit allocation of Q5 models after seeing sales increase 36 percent through April compared to the same period in 2012.

Audi investing $30.3 billion through 2018 for product expansion

How does Audi plan to reach two million units in annual sales and pay for the 11 new models it's adding to its lineup - an expansion that may include models named SQ2, Q9 and F-Tron? By increasing its investment to 22 billion euros ($30.3 billion US) between now and 2018. That figure represents an increase of about 500 million euros over the previously planned outlay, according to a report by Automotive News, and that could be due to Audi wishing to goad the momentum that pushed it to 1.5 million annual sales two years ahead of schedule.
It's also about staving off the challenges from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Now that BMW has been able to turn some of its attention away from its "i" series of Megacity cars, it will reportedly spend more than planned in 2014 as it continues the rollout of ten all-new vehicles and 15 new-generation vehicles through the end of next year. Mercedes, having been dropped to third in the sales race, is preparing to add 13 new cars over the next six years.
Audi's money is going into technology, into product like the next-generation TT and the Q1 and production expansions and upgrades all over the world. The expenditure represents just under a fourth of Volkswagen's 84.2 billion-euro ($115.7 US) outlay devoted to taking the number-one global automaker title away from General Motors and Toyota by 2018.