2013 Audi Allroad Wagon 4-door 2.0t on 2040-cars

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2018 Audi A8 spied with light camo, lots of Prologue touches

It's been a big week for Audi A8 news. First tech boss Dr. Stefan Knirsch hinted at a range-topping rival to the Mercedes-Maybach S600, and just yesterday CEO Rupert Stadler confirmed that the next-gen car would be the first Audi with autonomous driving systems. Now we have our first pictures of the new large sedan, which will be based on the VW Group's MSB platform. As expected, the 2018 A8 will take cues directly from the Audi Prologue concept, a large coupe that was first shown at the 2015 LA Auto Show. This new A8 is completely devoid of cladding, giving us a great look at its production-ready shape. We can see the Q7's strong influence on the design, especially in front. The fascia is home to a wide hexagonal grille and aggressively canted headlights. The taillights will likely be a similar shape to the Q7's, but the LED pattern is dramatically different – we can almost see individual elements on this A8, whereas the Q7 is more of a light-ribbon design. Overall, this is an attractive if somewhat anonymous look. Our spies couldn't capture any shots of the cabin, but we do expect it to resemble the concept interior Audi showed earlier this year at CES, which featured an evolved version of the Virtual Cockpit system called Virtual Dashboard. Not surprisingly, it looks like there's going to be a lot of room in the back seats. While Rupert Stadler confirmed the next A8 will debut in 2017, he didn't go as far as saying which auto show to expect it at. At this point, Geneva seems like a prime candidate. Related Video:

Audi: record profit as 'biggest product initiative' in its history gets underway

Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann   Even as the Audi Group (VOW.DE), VW’s luxury division, is in the midst of a huge EV transformation it still needs to perform where it counts — the bottom line. And so it is doing just that.  On Thursday the Audi Group - which is dominated volume-wise by Audi, but also includes Bentley, Lamborghini, and Ducati - posted record revenue and operating profit in 2022. That shouldnÂ’t be a surprise given what the industry has been seeing at the highest end of the market - record performances despite macroeconomic jitters across the globe. But that it's happening as the group is noteworthy.  “We are on the verge of the biggest product initiative in our history,” Audi Group CEO Markus Duesmann said at a news conference earlier on Thursday. “By 2025, we will have launched around 20 new models, more than 10 of which will be all-electric. We have set the course to go 100% electric. By 2027, we seek to offer an all-electric vehicle in each core segment.”   This is all part of Audi GroupÂ’s Vorsprung 2030 plan, which seeks to have all of the groupÂ’s new models be electric by 2026 — and to end traditional gas-powered engine production by 2033. To that end, the group saw EV deliveries jump 44% (in 2022) compared to 2021 to over 118,000 vehicles, with the share of EVs rising to 7.2% from 4.8% in the prior year. Audi is also launching its first EV using the PPE (premium platform electric), which was developed together with Porsche. That EV, the Audi Q6 e-tron, will be unveiled later this year. (Past Audi EVs shared corporate parent VWÂ’s electric platform.) “With the Audi Q6 e-tron, e-mobility is coming from Ingolstadt (Audi HQ) for the first time,” Duesmann said in a statement. “To this end, weÂ’re also building a dedicated battery assembly facility on site. This will enable us to retain important know-how here in Germany and train our employees in future fields.” AudiÂ’s German rivals of course are also leaning in hard on their EV transformations. That makes it all the more important that Audi get its EV strategy right—and launched in a timely manner.

Audi building 50 camouflaged Jon Olsson Edition A4 Avant wagons [w/video]

Swedish Autoblog readers, have you been driving your Audi A4 Avant wagons and thought, 'You know, I really wish my car looked more like a camouflaged World War II battleship?' Well, great news for you, as skier and Audi enthusiast Jon Olsson has teamed up with the German brand's Swedish outfit to offer this new limited-edition A4 Avant.
Finished in a camo patterned after Olsson's own RS6 Avant (which you can view in the video below) and slope-ready Lamborghini Gallardo, the Jon Olsson Camo Edition will cost fans of Smörgåsbord 399,900 Swedish Krona ($62,071 at today's rates). For that sum, you'll get the aforementioned A4 Avant wrapped in the Olsson-designed camo, as well as sport seats, a roof box, Xenon headlights, black 19-inch wheels shod in winter rubber, a sport suspension and Audi's S-Line exterior treatment. The Camo Edition will only be available with the 2.0-liter TDI engine and Quattro all-wheel drive.
There will only be 50 examples made, so we'd strongly recommend interested parties get down to their local Swedish Audi dealer. And if you want to see what the Camo Edition looks like in motion, scroll down for the video of Olsson's Audi RS6 Avant, finished in a similar pattern, running around Switzerland. We've also included the translated press release from Audi of Sweden. Have a look.