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Audi CEO announces new electrified car each year starting in 2018

Audi is preparing an aggressive (and possibly desperate) plan to electrify its lineup following the disastrous diesel emissions scandal. CEO Rupert Stadler announced the plan during the company's Annual General Meeting in Ingolstadt. "Starting in 2018, we will launch another electrified car each year," Stadler said. This is easily the most dramatic statement we've heard about electrification since Audi of America President Scott Keogh told Autoblog that one out of every four Audi models will have some kind of plug-in capacity by 2025. This new push for electrics will kick off with Audi's long-awaited all-electric CUV. We've already known about this guy for a while – according to our conversation with Keogh, it will be based on the E-Tron Quattro Concept first shown at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. And earlier this year, Audi even went as far as confirming its Brussels, Belgium factory will screw together the new EV. Speaking of those batteries, Audi expects them to match the 310-mile range promised by the E-Tron Quattro. What we're really eager to see, of course, is what Audi has planned after 2018. Will we get an all-electric A4 to battle the Tesla Model 3? An A7 E-Tron to challenge the Model S? Or will Audi go with a segment Tesla hasn't exploited yet? Expect a few years before we get answers to those questions. Beyond the EV announcement, Stadler also confirmed the next-generation Audi A8 will debut in 2017. The new luxury sedan will be capable of driving itself at speeds up to 37 miles per hour, fitting with previous reports. From there, Stadler expects to "see fully automated driving" by 2025. Related Video:

Audi works on AI with this mini Q2 that can park itself

Audi created a special Q2 that possesses the ability to find parking spaces, drive to them, and park itself. However, you won't be able to ride in it yet, because it's rather small. The Q2 is actually a 1/8-scale electric-powered model of the compact crossover, but the technology inside should eventually scale up. The model features just two mono cameras, one facing forward and the other rearward and 10 ultrasonic sensors around the body. According to Audi, the on-board computer uses information from all of these sources to figure out where the parking space is, and what maneuvers are necessary to enter it. The Q2 uses trial and error to improve how it parks. Audi will explain this Q2 and its artificial intelligence technology at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, this week. According to Audi, the subsidiary that created this model, Audi Electronics Venture, will transfer the tech to a full-size car in the next step of the project. With cars that can parallel park autonomously, and drive semi-autonomously, it's not hard to imagine them piloting themselves through parking lots on their own in the near future. Related Video:

Audi SQ7 TDI packs 48V electric compressor, 664 lb-ft

Take a look at the new Audi SQ7 TDI. It's the first time Audi has done an S performance version of its flagship sport-ute, and packs under the hood a 4.0-liter V8 turbo diesel engine mated to an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. It produces a potent 435 horsepower, and an absolutely bonkers 664 pound-feet of torque. The Audi SQ7 TDI produces a massive 664 lb-ft of torque. Impressive as it is, though, that doesn't even tell the full story. That's enough to make us forget it wasn't there in Geneva. It's also more torque than just about anything the Volkswagen Group makes – short of the Bentley Mulsanne Speed and the new Bugatti Chiron. Not even the Lamborghini Aventador SV or Bentley Continental GT Speed can touch that torque figure. Nor can competition like the Porsche Cayenne S Diesel (with its 385 hp and 627 lb-ft) or the BMW X5 M50d (381 hp and 546 lb-ft). It may not surpass the old twelve-cylinder Q7 6.0 TDI (with its 493 hp and 738 lb-ft), but still trounces the VW Touareg V10 TDI (309 hp and 553 lb-ft) – which was strong enough to tow a jet airplane, while the new SQ7 is fast enough to out-drag one (as you can see from the video below). Impressive as it is, though, that headline-grabbing torque figure doesn't tell the full story. To get there, Audi employed two conventional, sequential turbochargers and a third compressor that – in an industry first that's been a long time coming – is powered electrically. The engineers in Ingolstadt installed a beefier 48-volt electric subsystem to power the electric compressor (among other systems) and its latest valvetrain tech for the first time in a diesel. The result, Audi says, is a lack of any perceptible turbo lag – and a 0-62 time quoted at 4.8 seconds, en route to the typical electronically limited top speed of 155 miles per hour. As if that weren't enough, Audi also equipped the SQ7 TDI with an optional suspension package that coordinates the activities of three systems. There's a differential, a four-wheel steering system, and a clever electromechanical roll stabilization system that employs an electric motor (made possible once again by that 48-volt system) and a three-stage planetary gearbox to keep it all level and improve ride quality over rough surfaces. The sum total is an impressive technological tour de force on Audi's part, but one that we may just have to admire from afar.