2017 Audi S6 Premium Plus on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Audi SQ7 spied for the first time

Audi isn't really hiding that its engineers are hard at work on a high-performance version of the latest Q7. However, we haven't seen any of the fruits of this labor, until we got these fresh spy shots of the SQ7. With seemingly no camouflage on the car, these photos might give a very good idea of what to expect from Audi's speedy SUV. One big tip-off of the model's performance aspirations is the redesign of the front end's lower portion. New ducts beside the foglights send cool air to what appear to be intercoolers. This test model rides on a very cool-looking set of basket-weave style wheels, and the big, cross-drilled brakes are easy to spot behind them. At the rear, the quad exhaust tips also signal something special. Our spies also snapped some shots of the interior. If there is any question about whether this is the SQ7, these photos certainly assuage it. The badging is plain as day on the gauges, but at this point the changes appear to be fairly minimal beyond that. We know the SQ7 is going to get more power, but the method isn't officially confirmed yet. Although, Audi technical boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg said bluntly last year that it would use an electrically turbocharged engine, possibly an evolution of the V6 diesel in the RS5 TDI Concept. Hackenberg also suggested that the SQ7 would go on sale in 2016. Though, the actual debut might come earlier. Regardless, the tweaks should make the SUV quite a performer. Even on the standard version, it weighs 700 pounds less than the previous generation, while remaining about the same size.

Stay in the house from the Audi R8 Emmy ad

Audi is sponsoring the Emmys again, and launching an ad alongside the awards show that features a family living in the middle of the desert simply to have an excuse to drive their R8s as much, and as fast, as possible. Which is crazy. Even crazier, you can live in the exact house from the ad for a few days as part of an airbnb promotion. The stay includes chauffeured transportation from Las Vegas McCarran airport, all meals prepared by a personal chef, and an R8 V10 Plus in the driveway available for driving. Did we mention it's a real house and not just an advertising prop? It is. The 1,200 square foot Rondolino Residence sits on 80 acres near Scotty's Junction, Nevada, just over 2 hours northwest of Las Vegas. Beginning September 18, seven three-night stays in October will become available - one booking opens up each day at 9 PM Eastern. The rate is listed at $610 per night, with the bookings running October 10th through November 1st. You can book the experience, or try, on the airbnb page. As for the ad, titled "Desolation," at first it seems like a entertaining jaunt about the lengths people will go to for an amazing driving experience. A deeper (and totally unreasonable - it's just an ad) analysis suggests some truly troubling things going on. For starters, the lackadaisical parents let the children taunt a poisonous scorpion. Will the isolated upbringing and history of cruelty towards animals produce a future serial killer? In our deranged version of this fictional universe, yes. Second, the R8 - spoiler alert, both R8s - get super dirty on the run to the corner store. A corner store, which, seemingly unequipped for coffee roasting nevertheless has fresh artisanal beans sold in half-pound bags. Lacking a bulk purchase option, the plot of the ad surely repeats itself several times a week. That sounds insane, but hey, it's all about the drive. And we do love the "Leadfoot Coffee" easter egg. But we digress. Where is the car wash that left the R8 clean before the drive through the desert? And where is the second R8 parked? The male protagonist clearly drives out of the garage from a position that doesn't leave room for the second car. We can only surmise that there is a underground component to the house in the ad. To be clear, we're still in fictional universe of this ad - the real Rondolino Residence, like the Alamo, lacks a basement.

VW CEO lost his job over buggy software that delayed new models

It says a lot about the state of the auto industry and where it's going that software problems have cost the CEO of a carmaker his job. Volkswagen ousted Herbert Diess as chief executive officer after severe software-development delays set back the scheduled launch of new Porsches, Audis and Bentleys. This was untenable considering buggy software postponed the debut of VW’s initial rollout of ID models, and customers are still having to drop off their cars at the dealer for updates the company has struggled to make over the air. Sure, Diess also didnÂ’t do enough to make allies and became increasingly isolated due to his hard-nosed leadership style. In his push to transform the company into an electric-vehicle leader, he repeatedly clashed with labor leaders by warning VW was losing out to Tesla and needed to cut thousands of jobs. But failures at the carmakerÂ’s software unit Cariad ultimately eroded DiessÂ’s support from the powerful Porsche and Piech family that calls the shots. Back in December, VW overhauled its management board, stripping Diess of some responsibilities while tasking him to turn around Cariad. While thereÂ’s been a lot of re-arranging since then, Diess didnÂ’t manage to make the issues go away. Discord at Cariad has pushed back the rollout of important new models including the electric Porsche Macan, a high-volume sport utility vehicle for the division thatÂ’s planning an initial public offering in the fourth quarter. AudiÂ’s new line of Artemis EVs has been delayed by around two years to 2027. And VWÂ’s ultra-luxury brand Bentley may not be able to go all-electric by the end of this decade as planned because of the software issues, Automobilwoche reported earlier this month. “Taking over the ship at Cariad seems to have been DiessÂ’s downfall,” said Matthias Schmidt, an independent auto analyst based in Berlin. VWÂ’s solutions to challenges tend to reflect its status as an industrial behemoth: itÂ’s able to throw lots of money and people at its problems. But modernizing the company for the digital age is going to take bringing in talent and building skillsets outside its traditional zones of expertise. Drivers increasingly demand intuitive user interfaces and services that could create new revenue streams, if done correctly. “Software is the key to the future,” TeslaÂ’s Elon Musk tweeted when one of his followers asked about VW switching CEOs. Diess certainly didnÂ’t lack ambition.