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Audi A3 Clubsport Quattro concept bringing its 525 horses to W?rthersee

It's almost late May, and you know what that means: the last of the snow has melted, the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, the flowers are blooming, and the performance-car faithful are descending on Wörthersee in Austria for the annual GTI-Treffen.
Not only is the Wörthersee Tour (as the automaker calls it) a chance for enthusiasts to show off their rides, it's also a prime opportunity for the Volkswagen Group to show some of its most dedicated customers what it can do. Past meets have given us such notables as the Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro, Volkswagen GTI W12-650 and Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Roadster, to name just a few. And now Audi has emerged as the first VW Group brand to reveal what it has in store.
It's called the A3 Clubsport Quattro, and seems to offer a pretty clear indication of what we should expect of the next RS3. The concept is based on the S3 sedan, but swaps out its 2.0-liter turbo four for a retuned version of Audi's sweet 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five, retuned to produce a massive 525 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque.

China probing German automakers over spare parts

The Chinese market has proven to be a boon to German luxury automakers. However, the way that the companies have allegedly been controlling their supply of spare parts has begun to draw the ire of the nation's government. According to insiders speaking to Bloomberg, officials from the country's economic planning organization have opened a probe into Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and some Japanese carmakers over claimed price inflation and limiting supply.
Specifically, the investigation centers around two aspects of how the companies do business, according to Bloomberg. Investigators want to know whether the original equipment component makers are able to sell spare parts only to automaker-authorized dealers or if they are also available to independent shops. There is also the issue of whether the price markup on replacement pieces is too high. The tight controls could be partially explained by China's reputation for producing counterfeit parts.
Evidently, the investigators haven't checked parts prices at car dealers elsewhere in the world. At least in the US, paying more at the dealer for factory components just goes along with owning a vehicle. If evidence of price fixing is found, the companies could face fines the equivalent of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.

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.