2006 Audi A6 on 2040-cars

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Audi 3D-printed this tiny Type C racer, we want to drive it

See this little guy? No, not the one driving – that's Professor Hubert Waltl, Audi's head of production and Volkswagen's chief toolmaker. The thing he's driving, though, is a 1:2 scale replica of the 1936 Auto Union Type C. And it was 3D-printed entirely in house. Not in one piece, mind you. It's too big for that. But the Audi Toolmaking division employed metal printing technology to fabricate all the parts that went into this replica of one of the most dominant of the Silver Arrow grand prix racers of the pre-war era. It's essentially like the pedal car Audi rolled out nine years ago, or the E-Tron concept it showed us nearly five years ago. Only this one uses more advanced manufacturing techniques. Aside from making us want to drive it like nobody's business, the half-sized vehicle serves to showcase the advancements which Audi and the VW Group are making in manufacturing – particularly in the area of 3D printing. The German automaker presently has the technology to print laser-melted layers of metallic powder – either steel or aluminum – with grains measuring half the diameter of a human hair. The equipment can handle objects as large as 7.9 inches high by 9.5 inches wide – which, as small as this little car looks, is still a bit too large to simply print out in one piece. Audi Toolmaking prints "Auto Union Typ C" - Exact model of the "Silver Arrow" from a 3D printer - Audi Board of Management Member for Production Prof. Dr. Hubert Waltl: "This underscores our pioneering role in toolmaking." From powder to a component: With a 3D printer, Audi Toolmaking has produced a model of the historical Grand Prix sports car "Auto Union Typ C" from the year 1936. The company is now examining further possible applications of metal printers for the production of complex components. At the same time, Audi is creating important synergies with toolmaking in other parts of the Volkswagen Group. "We are pushing forward with new manufacturing technologies at Audi Toolmaking and at the Volkswagen Group," stated Prof. Dr. Hubert Waltl, Audi's Board of Management Member for Production and Head of Toolmaking at the Volkswagen Group. "Together with partners in the area of research, we are constantly exploring the boundaries of new processes. One of our goals is to apply metal printers in series production." The Volkswagen Group has a total of 14 toolmaking units in nine countries. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr.

Audi design getting big overhaul?

Car and Driver has an update on the design shuffle in Ingolstadt that will ultimately bring more differentiation to Audi products. Last November, Audi design chief Wolfgang Egger spoke of the need to do "something new without breaking from tradition" in Audi design, but talk at the time centered on how the Crosslane Coupe Concept would influence the new looks of the brand's Q cars. The most recent moves appear focused on passenger cars, with designers from Volkswagen Group kin like Bentley and Seat moving to Audi, and outsiders from Alfa Romeo moving in.
While Egger decreed the end of "scalable design" to CD, last November's report said there would be more technology and "greater visual cohesion" between interior and exterior design. We still have no idea what all this means nor when we'll see visible changes in production, but at least we know there's something being done behind the scenes.

Despite premium carmakers going downmarket, luxury auto sales stick at 10-11%

According to research conducted by global information company IHS Automotive, the leporine birthing of new models by luxury manufacturers over the past six years hasn't increased their market share in the US. Even as car sales reached 15.6 million units, IHS says what's happened instead is that luxury buyers are merely moving from one brand to another, moving from larger luxury vehicles into hot segments like compact luxury crossovers or leaving the market at the same rate as other buyers enter.
Whether broken out by makes or by segment, market share has rollercoastered inside a narrow band from 10.5 to 11.5 percent since "at least" 2008. Closer investigation reveals the shifting boundaries in the aspirational pond, with brands like Mercedes-Benz and Audi gaining territory as Lexus and Lincoln lost it, and Saab and Hummer were buried, dead, under it. One neat note is that Tesla has gone from a share of zip to .12 percent.
The subcompact and compact crossover segments show growth, with those little high-riders jumping from .3 percent to 1.16 percent of overall industry sales. Their rise, though, is concomitant with the decline of four other segments: compact and midsize cars and fullsize cars and SUVs. We think the next few years that will tell if the small-car expansion can overcome the large-car retraction, with a phalanx of smaller offerings like the CLA only recently hitting the market and others like the GLA, Macan and Q1 doing so in the near future.