2010 Audi A6 3.0t Quattro Premium Plus Supercharged Blue Navigation Sunroof on 2040-cars

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Electric 1960 Auto Union 1000S has vintage looks, modern power

If you want to buy a classic car but somehow feel a twinge of guilt about the old engine polluting too much, then it's worth taking a look at this 1960 Auto Union 1000S on eBay Motors. The owner removed the original three-cylinder, two-stroke and installed a fully electric powertrain. In place of the internal combustion engine, there's an Azure Dynamics three-phase AC24 motor to spin the front wheels, and it even has regenerative braking. Lithium-ion batteries replace the rear seat and extend into the trunk to supply 21.5 kWh of energy storage. The seller claims the Auto Union weighs 2,400 pounds, so the powertrain might be rather lively in such a light car. From the outside, this Auto Union is immaculate. The owner's body-off restoration includes powder coating the chassis and suspension and repainting the exterior in Ascot Grey with the white roof. The color scheme looks perfect on cars of this era. The interior now has a digital instrument cluster in the center of the dash. We could see this change upsetting some purists because of the clash between original and modern. However, the reupholstered fabric seats look amazing. The owner has covered 15,000 miles since the restoration, so any powertrain bugs have been worked out in that time. As of this writing, the bidding is at $15,100 with 28 bids and the reserve is not yet met. The auction ends Sunday, April 10. While the seller provides great photos with the sale, you can see the EV in motion below in a video Audi created about it in 2014.

VW says it has sold over 100,000 TDI diesels in America this year

Volkswagen Group of America has lit oil-burning fireworks to celebrate the sales of more than 100,000 TDI Clean Diesel vehicles in the US between its VW and Audi brands this year. According to VW, that means it is responsible for more than 75 percent of diesel-engined cars and SUVs sold here - perhaps not surprising when the two brands offer a total of 12 diesel models.
What might be surprising is that the number of diesels isn't far off the estimated sales of 90,000 battery electric vehicles and PHEVs, with 15,000 of those accounted for by the Tesla Model S, another 12,000 or so being the Toyota Prius PHEV.
VW's keen to play up the ease of making diesel part of your life, stressing that it doesn't need any change to the refueling infrastructure and that "this is a technology delivering real answers to society's concerns about fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions without compromises."

NHTSA expands new Takata probe to 4 more automakers

DETROIT — The U.S. government's highway safety agency has launched an investigation into four additional automakers that have a potentially deadly type of Takata air bag inflator in their vehicles but have yet to recall them. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted Thursday that it is investigating Audi, Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi in connection with a Takata recall involving 1.4 million inflators. This brings the total number of manufacturers potentially impacted to five, as BMW was connected to the issue when it was brought to light earlier in December. The inflators made by the now-bankrupt Takata have a distinct and separate problem that can cause them to blow apart a metal canister and spew shrapnel into people's faces and bodies. The problem killed a driver in Australia who was in an older 3-Series BMW, which has already recalled more than 116,000 vehicles. The problem is so dangerous that in some cases BMW has told drivers to park their vehicles until repairs can be made. The safety agency says in documents that Takata didn't provide details on the affected makes, models or model years of vehicles with the defective inflators. So it is telling the companies to recall them promptly. The agency says that based on when the faulty inflators were produced, it's likely that the vehicles to be recalled came from the 1995 through 2000 model years. In letters to all four automakers, NHTSA says they have five business days to notify the agency after finding out about a safety defect. “If your company has not yet gathered enough evidence to make a determination that the subject air bag inflators present an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety, reply with a detailed work plan including the benchmark dates required to make the determination,” the agency wrote in letters to all four automakers dated Wednesday. A Honda spokesman said Thursday it hasn't determined yet whether its vehicles are affected, but a decision should be made soon. Audi, Mitsubishi and Toyota said they are still investigating. NHTSA has told the companies to respond by Jan. 17. On Dec. 4, NHTSA posted documents from Takata and BMW detailing the problems. The documents said the Australian driver was killed, while another Australian driver and a driver in Cyprus were injured. Unlike previous recalls, the Takata non-azide inflators do not use volatile ammonium nitrate to fill the air bags in a crash.