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Audi to unveil S1 hot hatch at Geneva Motor Show

Audi has been toying with the idea of a hot hatch based on the A1 premium city car for some time now. It rolled out the 500-horsepower A1 Clubsport Quattro concept at the Wörthersee gathering a couple of years ago, then put its form (with half the power) into limited production with the 252hp A1 Quattro (pictured above) shortly thereafter. What it hasn't done is offer a mainstream S1 that people can actually get their hands on, but that's all about to change.
Following spy shots of numerous prototypes, Auto Express claims to have it on good authority that the new S1 will be unveiled at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in March. Though likely less aggressive in its visual impact, the S1 is expected to get almost as much power as the aforementioned A1 Quattro, with a 2.0-liter turbo 4-cylinder sourced from the larger S3 but detuned to 230 hp.
A six-speed dual-clutch transmission is expected to drive all four wheels - something for which the platform was not originally designed but was later adapted to accommodate - though the availability of a six-speed manual remains in question. Unfortunately the A1 was never destined for the North American market, so as much as we might want one (and as much as Ingolstadt may be motivated to take a bite out of the Mini market), we wouldn't expect to see it roaring into American showrooms.

Conquest and controversy conclude the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona [spoilers]

If you don't wish to know who won the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona, you should avert your eyes right now. We'll even give you a double-space to skedaddle...
For those of you still with us, the first race in the United SportsCar Championship (USCC) is done, but the discussions about it certainly won't end for a while. Daytona Prototypes claimed the first four overall places, the top spot taken by the No. 5 Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP driven by Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Sebastien Bourdain and Burt Friselle. The 16th and final caution of the race bunched the field up for an eight-minute sprint to the flag, so the first place getter finished just 1.4 seconds ahead of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP driven by Max Angelelli. Third place went to Brian Friselle in the No. 9 Action Express Chevrolet Corvette DP, 20 seconds down. Chevrolet power hasn't taken the overall win since 2003, eleven years later it scores a one-two-three-four. The No. 6 Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 scored fifth place, the top LMP2 finisher.
The Prototype Challenge class win went to the No. 54 CORE Autosport team of Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, Mark Wilkins and James Gue.

Why Audi is staking its future on electric SUVs

This much we know: SUVs and crossovers sell like hotcakes. The body style has become such a juggernaut that for the first time in recorded history, sport utes beat out sedans this year to score the biggest slice of the luxury pie. Love 'em or hate 'em, SUVs are here to stay, and carmakers are investing more than ever in the segment. Sport utility vehicles also played a bigger role than you might think in making Audi relevant in the US, and based on what we learned during a sit-down with Audi of America president Scott Keogh at the Paris Motor Show, their role is only going to continue to grow at the automaker. Last year, the brand sold 202,202 cars in the States, capping off 60 consecutive months of record sales. But it's not enough to focus on traditional SUVs like the Q5, which was launched on the heels of the global economic meltdown in a tiny small segment of around 160,000 vehicles and has since ballooned to over 400,000 units. The Q5 has scored 80 percent of its buyers from conquest, and a new plant in Puebla, Mexico, promises to churn even more units to the US and the world. Still, tackling the future head-on can be like wrestling an eel – an elusive, almost impossible-to-execute challenge – and Audi is betting a huge part of that success will be the production version of the E-Tron Quattro Concept that debuted last year in Frankfurt. Internally referred to as the C Bev, this battery-powered SUV claims a 311-mile range, and might as well be nicknamed the Tesla Model X Killer. "If you look at where this car migrated from," Keogh says, "it started as a European-ish city car, and then it migrated into a sedan-ish sportback-y type thing, and then we pushed very aggressively to make it an SUV." Keogh says the vehicle will hit showrooms "after 2018." The SUV layout naturally lends itself to batteries, but it also boils down to a simple bureaucratic advantage: "We get [government CO2 and fuel economy] credits for volume," says Keogh. "It's not just enough for a car to be there, it's got to be a car that a lot of people want to buy." Sized between a Q5 and a Q7, the E-Tron Quattro resides in a target-rich environment, a 600,000 - 700,000 unit segment. Add Audi's goals of electrifying 25 percent of its lineup by 2025, and a high volume, medium/large SUV simply makes sense.