2008 Audi Tt 3.2l Navi on 2040-cars

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Audi TT Ultra Quattro Concept throws lightness at the problem

Audi is celebrating the 2013 Wörthersee Tour with a special concept version of the company's TT. The Audi TT Ultra Quattro concept tips the scales at just 2,449 pounds thanks to some extensive engineering work. The company pulled nearly 95 lbs from the car's body structure and used carbon-fiber reinforced plastics for many of its detachable body components. As a result, the concept weighs in at a full 220 pounds lighter than its production counterpart. Throw in a wicked turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 310 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, and you get a machine with the power to weight ratio in the supercar realm. 0-60 comes up in 4.2 seconds and top speed is listed at 173 mph.
Inside, the TT Ultra Quattro features plenty of carbon fiber trim, and designers also fitted the seats from the R8 GT to save a little weight. The buckets use CFRP for the seat frames, saving nearly 50 pounds in the process. In a world where automakers seem blind to the negative effect of throwing more heft at a vehicle, we're in love with the Ultra Quattro concept. Check out the full press release below for more information.

Coronavirus prompts VW to stop production throughout Europe

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group, the world's biggest carmaker, is suspending production at factories across Europe as the coronavirus pandemic hits sales and disrupts supply chains, the company said on Tuesday. The German carmaker, which owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, also said that uncertainty about the fallout from coronavirus meant it was impossible to give forecasts for its performance this year. "Given the present significant deterioration in the sales situation and the heightened uncertainty regarding parts supplies to our plants, production is to be suspended in the near future at factories operated by group brands," Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Tuesday. Volkswagen's powerful works council concluded it was not possible for workers to maintain a safe distance from each other to prevent contagion and recommended a suspension of production at its factories from Friday. Production will be halted at VW's Spanish plants, in Setubal in Portugal, Bratislava in Slovakia and at the Lamborghini and Ducati plants in Italy before the end of this week, Diess said. Most of its other German and European factories will prepare to suspend production, probably for two to three weeks, while Audi said separately it would halt output at its plants in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Mexico. Volkswagen's vast factories in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Puebla, Mexico, and plants in Brazil were not affected, but that would depend on how the coronavirus spreads, VW said. Volkswagen has 124 production sites worldwide of which 72 are in Europe, with 28 in Germany alone. "2020 will be a very difficult year. The coronavirus pandemic presents us with unknown operational and financial challenges. At the same time, there are concerns about sustained economic impacts," Diess said.   Production in China resumes Volkswagen Group sold 10.96 million vehicles last year, putting it ahead of Toyota based on the latest figures from the Japanese carmaker. Globally, VW employs 671,000 people and it delivered 4.86 million vehicles to European customers in 2019. Only last month the car and truck maker based in Wolfsburg, Germany, predicted that vehicle deliveries this year would match 2019 sales and forecast an operating return on sales in the range of 6.5% to 7.5%. "The spread of coronavirus is currently impacting the global economy. It is uncertain how severely or for how long this will also affect the Volkswagen Group.

2016 Audi TT [w/video]

What came first, the metrosexual or the Audi TT? While it was close, the descriptor-turned-epithet preceded the 1995 concept car by one year. However, they were both notable cultural evolutions and they happened to work together perfectly. Hugh Grant, playing the cad Will Freeman in the 2002 film About a Boy, could not have chosen a better example of character than his silver TT.
A decade later, the original TT was still important enough that when rumors of the third-generation coupe began to surface in late 2012, the most exciting fantasy was that the 2014 coupe might "recapture some of the distinctiveness and impact" of a 16-year-old car (the TT came to market in 1998). Even speculation by dedicated Audi observers thought the brand would do something novel, even if not mimicry. The obvious takeaway: no one was going to be lighting any candles for the departed second generation. All of that is why when the first leaked image slipped onto the Internet, people began to get suspicious. When the third generation took the stage at the Geneva Motor Show, we could almost hear the digital deflation over the Ethernet, our poll results notwithstanding.
Yet it's still the TT, and in spite of having seen its interior and virtual cockpit and clocked its specs, we couldn't judge it before heading to Marbella, Spain to drive it. What we found out was while it's better than the second generation, it's still very much a TT.