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Audi celebrates original RS with RS4 Avant Nogaro selection

It's been 20 years since Audi unveiled the RS2 Avant, the progenitor of an entire range of ridiculously fun luxury cars, including the RS3, three generations of the RS4, three generations of RS6, the RS5, and new RS7 and RS Q3. In honor of the anniversary, Audi is paying tribute to the Porsche-fettled wagon by releasing a special edition of its modern-day counterpart, the RS4 Avant.
Called the RS4 Nogaro selection, it sports vibrant Nogaro Blue paint, which is similar to the RS2's signature color. The twin oval exhaust, window frames, and grille surround are finished in gloss black, while the roof rails are matte black. 20-inch wheels in a V-spoke pattern are the RS4 Nogaro's final exterior tell.
In the cabin, Nogaro Blue Alcantara suede accents are optional on the door panels and seat inners (black suede is also available), while Valcona leather comes standard on the seat outers. The steering wheel, meanwhile, features Nogaro Blue contrast stitching and is wrapped in black leather. Blue threads in the carbon fiber trim and a special-edition shifter round out the interior work on this special edition RS4.

VW fix would have cost $335 per vehicle

Since the Volkswagen diesel kerfuffle began, Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, has been hooked up to a bullhorn trying to make sure everyone knows its side of the story. Bosch supplied VW with the engine management testing software, including delivery and metering modules, that VW then used to skirt emissions laws in the US. Bosch told VW in 2007 that it was illegal to use the software in cars it planned to sell yet VW did it anyway, according to reports coming out in German newspapers Bild am Sonntag and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. That first warning came two years after VW started developing the small-displacement diesel, around the time that the two men pushing its development, then-brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard and engineer Rudolf Krebs, were telling their superiors that the engine needed AdBlue urea injection to pass US emissions. VW cost controllers wouldn't approve the AdBlue solution because it would add 300 euros ($335 US) to the cost of the vehicle. Bernhard and Krebs left the same year that Bosch advised VW about the software, two years before the engine went into production. That's when things get cloudy. A report in Automotive News says that when Martin Winterkorn took over in 2007 as head of the VW Group and brand, he asked Ulrich Hackenberg and Wolfgang Hatz to keep working on the engine, and "[the] engine then ended up in VW Group diesels" with that problematic software still intact. No one has yet pointed any fingers at this latter chain of command, but like a game of Clue, right now they're the professors in the library holding the candlesticks. Warnings didn't only come from the supplier: Frankfurter says VW's initial investigation has found that an engineer issued the same caution to the company in 2011. Neither Bosch nor VW would comment on the reports.

Audi will spend less on future technology as it focuses on future technology

It seems the very thing meant to be saved by Audi curtailing spending could also take a hit as a result. A report from Reuters outlines a few ways Audi will cut costs in the wake of its parent company's diesel scandal. While focusing on EVs, autonomous driving, and new connected technology instead of its current vehicle portfolio, Audi is axing plans for a track to test self-driving cars as well as facilities meant to produce new concepts and batteries. Or, you know, exactly the kinds of things Audi is now focusing its efforts on. Some of this shouldn't come as a surprise. We already know about the death of the R8 E-Tron, a low-volume EV that wasn't going to make the brand much money and didn't pan out as a halo electric car quite like the company probably hoped. Then there's the new E-Tron crossover, which has been in the works for a while and will head a line of consumer-grade EVs from the brand – the kind that will make money as long as they sell in mass-market numbers, something Tesla has shown is possible. That project is surely safe, although perhaps it will now take longer for the EVs to gain autonomous abilities. This change in funding direction could mean that the planned autonomous track, dubbed IN-Campus as it was to be located in Audi's home of Ingolstadt, was going to be more for show than actual research, or that Audi thinks it can get the same outcomes in its existing facilities or new ones located elsewhere. (The company's work council is upset by the plan being put on hold, as it could mean more jobs leaving Germany.) There's also the very strong possibility that this provides a welcome opportunity for the company to cut some fat. Reuters notes that Audi spends more on R&D than rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz, despite having the whole VW Group to leverage. While the diesel scandal was certainly not welcome, it may be forcing Audi and the other Group brands to take a closer look at balance sheets than they otherwise would have. The result of all of this could be a leaner company, assuming too much attention doesn't stray to low-volume EVs and away from what are still the core products. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Reuters Green Audi Technology Crossover Autonomous Vehicles Electric audi e-tron