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After Le Mans exit, Audi adds World Rallycross to Formula E and DTM efforts

Back in October, Dieselgate claimed another victim: Audi's FIA World Endurance Championship program. Audi left at the height of its Le Mans racing prowess, having won 13 times overall in 18 years at the famous French race. We didn't expect Audi Sport to confine itself solely to the Formula E and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series, and so today Audi announced that the company would officially back an existing FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) team, EKS, in 2017. EKS was formed by Mattias Ekstrom, who is also a factory Audi DTM driver with a couple of championships under his belt in that series. He's been competing in various rally and touring car series for years, and even snagged a ride in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race back in 2010 at Infineon Raceway. The EKS team came together in 2014, with Ekstrom fielding an Audi S1 EKS RX Quattro. And the team hasn't done too badly for itself; in 2016, it took the driver's and team championships. There's only so much Ekstrom's team as privateers can do to protect its championship from factory-backed teams, so that explains why Audi Sport was happy to step in with full support – including vehicle development supported by the actual motorsport department at Audi. Ekstrom will also continue on as a factory Audi DTM driver. Related Video: Motorsports Audi Racing Vehicles fia audi s1

Audi TT images leak out ahead of Geneva debut

Audi has done an incredibly poor job of keeping the third-generation Audi TT a secret. The first images of the car's rear leaked out late last week, and Audi released its own teaser video for the car last week, too, showing off its aluminum body. Now, the first official photos have surfaced out ahead of the car's debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show on March 4. The official photos are practically identical to the renderings from two weeks ago.
However, it appears that Audi has been able to keep one secret up its sleeve. If you look closely at the TT's grille, the badge appears to read TTS. It also has chrome and brushed aluminum trim on the mirror caps, rear diffuser and front air dam. The interior is also quite similar to the concept interior of the new TT was first shown in January at CES. So, images of the actual TT are likely to still be fresh when the car rolls across the stage at Geneva.
Check out all of the leaked photos in the gallery, and official details about the 2015 TT are expected in the next 24 hours.

What the Volkswagen I.D. concept tells us about the post-TDI future

If you've been paying attention, 2016 hasn't been a great year for Volkswagen. The TDI scandal removed VW's last crutch between our internal combustion present and the electric future, and so the company found itself scrambling to shift resources to show what's next right now. It's naive to assume that this is truly the sort of fairytale comeback story that VW's spin doctors would have us all believe, but it's notable that instead of flinching or pointing fingers, the engineers got to work. What they've produced is the I.D. concept, the third wave in VW's volume car history after the Beetle and Golf. The transaxle Golf was more than simply an updated Beetle, and likewise the I.D. is more than an electrified Golf. VW says the I.D. won't replace the Golf, but they said the same thing about that car replacing the Beetle. It's only a matter of time. VW says the I.D. won't replace the Golf, but they said the same thing about that car replacing the Beetle. It's only a matter of time. The I.D. approach is refreshingly simple: no carbon fiber chassis, no exotic battery chemistry, no outrageous concept car styling. The MEB chassis (the German acronym for modular electric platform) is made out of a traditional mix of high-strength steel grades to save costs and utilize existing factories. The battery is integral, not swappable, to reduce complexity and increase structural rigidity. It's also uses lithium-ion chemistry because of a proven track record and an existing (albeit deficient) supply chain. Contrast that with the e-Golf, which shares its chassis with the conventional internal-combustion cars. Fitting the battery and its ancillary systems became complicated and expensive. The skateboard installation in the I.D. will allow the pack to be optimized for the space available, reducing costs. As we've already reported, MEB will be shared across all VW Group brands to achieve an economy of scale, and the modular platform can be stretched to the size of roughly a Passat and down to a car slightly smaller than the I.D. It can be given all-wheel drive, although VW's e-mobility chief Christian Senger is quick to point out that the standard rear-drive configuration provides plenty of traction because of optimal weight distribution achieved with battery in the middle of the chassis. It makes all-wheel drive more of a bonus rather than a necessity in bad weather.