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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.

Audi boss can't say no to F1 program

Audi has been a dominant force at the top rung of endurance racing for over a decade. Still, rumors have fired up again about the possibility of the company making a big switch to Formula 1. The Four Rings' boss Rupert Stadler isn't ready to make that decision yet, but he's not ruling it out. When asked by Auto Express about the potential of Audi entering F1 in the next five years, Stadler gave an intriguing answer. "It's something we're looking at, but then we're always looking at it and many other things. But I can't say yes or no," he said. While not at all a confirmation, that's hardly an outright denial, either. According to unnamed insiders speaking to Auto Express, Audi is under pressure from Volkswagen Group to leave the FIA World Endurance Championship. Right now, the Four Rings is competing directly against its corporate sibling Porsche. While that might make for a good rivalry on the track, it doesn't necessarily make sense financially. Rumors last year suggested that Audi might leave the WEC and DTM to finance the F1 project. Two possibilities were proposed at the time: act as engine supplier to Red Bull or buy Toro Rosso to run a whole new team. Stadler's non-denial might also indicate that Audi's view on F1 is shifting. In the past, the company's opinion has been much more obvious. Last year, Audi Sport tweeted that the rumormongering was "pure speculation." As far back as 2011, the brand's motorsport boss said grand prix racing had "no relevance to the road." Related Video:

Audi, BMW, Daimler buy Nokia's Here digital mapping business

The fight for control of Nokia's Here digital mapping service appears to have drawn to a close as a consortium of German automakers has announced a deal to jointly acquire the business from the Finnish telecom giant. As anticipated, ownership in Here will now be taken over jointly by Audi, BMW, and Daimler, beating out reported rivals bids from the likes of Apple and Uber. Here is one of the largest and most advanced digital mapping and location systems. It started out in Chicago in 1986 as Navteq before Nokia acquired it in 2007, and is now slated to change ownership again. The cloud-based service maintains high-definition digital maps for nearly 200 countries and supports over 50 languages, gathering data from users to update the data continuously. Rather than transition the service into their own proprietary technology, however, the automakers insist that it will remain open "to all customers from the automotive industry and other sectors." Ownership will be shared equally between the three companies, with "none of them seek[ing] to acquire a majority interest" in Here. For another, Here's management is promised to remain independent, and "the consortium will not interfere into operational business." Though the purchase price has not been disclosed, it is rumored to be worth in the neighborhood of $2.7 billion. Assuming it passes regulatory approval, the acquisition is slated to be completed in the first quarter of next year. The German automakers anticipate implementing the service to provide connected vehicles with accurate, up-to-date information on road and other conditions. Examples it outlines include warning other drivers of icy conditions based on outside temperature and ABS activation. It could also warn drivers of impending traffic jams, or even guide traffic through green lights in an urban environment. In the future, the highly detailed maps are envisioned to enable fully automated driving as well. Related Video: AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG agree with Nokia Corporation on joint acquisition of HERE digital mapping business Ingolstadt, Munich, Stuttgart, Aug 03, 2015 - Acquisition will secure and strengthen HERE as an independent company serving customers from all industries - Real-time maps and location based services will be the basis for the mobility of tomorrow - Transaction expected to close in first quarter 2016 Ingolstadt, Munich, Stuttgart – August 3rd, 2015.