2012 A7 Prestige Pkg on 2040-cars

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Audi Sport is actually a thing, and it's set to fight BMW M, Mercedes-AMG 

"Essentially, the name Audi Sport positions an enterprise already used to become better-recognized by the public and sets itself up to grow as a result." BMW has its M performance subsidiary. Mercedes-Benz has AMG. So what does Audi have? Some would say "nothing," a few would answer "Quattro," while many others would respond to that by saying, "Don't be stupid, Quattro's their all-wheel drive system." Well, it is, but Quattro GmbH is also the name of the company that has been tasked with creating Audi's highest performance cars, plus special-order customization, customer racing, and the Audi Collection of merchandise. Trouble is, nobody really knew that, as it was in no way a public-facing brand. That all changes with the entity now rechristened as Audi Sport. It doesn't stop there. "We wanted to have recognition for the R8 and RS models on a broad level," said Filip Brabec, vice president of product development. Audi Sport allows those models to be more easily identified as something different and special, much as AMG models are. "It's not just a piece of marketing material, but it'll also be recognized at a dealership." Around half of Audi dealers in the United States have signed up to be Audi Sport dealers, granting them unique training, access to track events and signage. The dealer buildings themselves will have special areas devoted to Audi Sport. So essentially, the name Audi Sport positions an enterprise already in use to become better-recognized by the public and sets itself up to grow as a result. But be it called Quattro GmbH or Audi Sport, what is it that they exactly do? Besides the R8, which it completely developed and manufactures, all its RS models are done in concert with Audi AG. Yet, that "done in concert" process has changed a bit over the years and head of Audi Sport product development Stefan Reil has been there from the RS cars' beginning 19 years ago. "When we started, our cars were launched in the last one or two years of the base Audi cars," Reil said. "We started development when the base cars were already in development or on the road. Now we have a much closer interaction with the people at Audi AG. Even when they start the concept work for the new car, we are right there in that process." View 23 Photos In the beginning, his small team would work on developing one car, finish it, and then move onto the next. Now, his much larger team is running multiple projects at the same time.

Alpha 10 Audi R8 by AMS Beauty-Roll

For those of you paying attention, we've really ramped up the old Autoblog video game these days. Our new series Car Club USA joins Translogic and The List, and there are more Daily Drivers and Short Cuts than ever. But sometimes, all you care about is the car. The Autoblog Beauty-Roll video series has one goal: bring you glossy video images of cars, and nothing but. We're collecting moving pictures of all the cars we test, inside and out. Each episode comes with a hit of engine sound – start-up and with a few revs – to round out the package. Set your resolution to max, kick it into full-screen, turn up the sound, and enjoy today's subject, the Alpha 10 Audi R8 by AMS. Oh, and if you'd like more Beauty-Roll, click here to see the back catalog.

Audi exec suspended over diesel scandal

So far, just one lower-level employee has plead guilty in the ongoing VW diesel scandal. Up high, the VW CEO when the scandal broke, Martin Winterkorn, resigned right after the news came out. Other executives have also quit or been suspended as well. Today, we learn that one more executive is feeling the heat a year into the scandal. Stefan Knirsch, the head of technical development at Audi and Audi board member, is going to be suspended from his position this week because of his ties to the technology that VW Group used to cheat emissions tests. The German newspaper Bild Am Sonntag reports that Knirsch not only knew that the cheating software existed but also lied about it under oath. Knirsch previously worked at Porsche and then Audi's electrification division. He left Audi's EV efforts behind in early 2015. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo Government/Legal Green Audi Volkswagen Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal audi diesel diesel scandal