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Lamborghini agrees to produce Urus in Italy

The Lamborghini Urus is apparently on the way, and it looks like it will be built in Italy. The news comes from Bloomberg, which claims Lambo CEO Stephan Winkelmann and Audi CEO Rupert Stadler will be joined by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday to announce a series of tax breaks to bring SUV production to Italy. The report cites multiple "people familiar with the matter." The details of the deal include up to 500 new jobs in exchange for $87 million in tax breaks along with "other benefits," according to Bloomberg. Just over a year ago, it was looking like Urus production was headed for Slovakia, where it'd be built alongside its MLB platform-mates, the Audi Q7, Volkswagen Touareg, and Porsche Cayenne. News of Italy's bid surfaced this spring. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for any official news as it becomes available. Related Video:

Audi TT offroad concept wirelessly charges E-Tron quattro powertrain

Audi has been diving deep into the concept ideas pool for a while now, with out-there auto-show-only vehicles like the off-road Nanuk Quattro Concept (last year's Frankfurt Show) and the TT-previewing Allroad Shooting Brake (Detroit earlier this year). The automaker has also been hinting at wireless charging through its work with WiTricitiry and the Urban Concept Sportback from Frankfurt 2011. The latest evolution of these ideas is the brand-new Audi TT offroad concept show car, which makes an appearance at the Beijing Motor Show this weekend after being teased earlier this month. Putting wireless charging into an off-road body makes little sense at first glance - after all, if you're heading out into the wild, you'll be lucky enough to find a standard outlet - finding an in-ground induction pad will be near-impossible. Thankfully, we don't need to worry ourselves with this sort of logical conflict, since this is once again an auto show study. The powertrain is capable of 408 hp and 479.2 lb-ft of torque as well 123 MPGe. And that means interesting powertrain details, like a plug-in hybrid E-Tron quattro powertrain that uses two electric motors (one rated at 40 kW for the front axle, the other at 85 kW for the rear) and can even dispense with the plug part thanks to Audi Wireless Charging technology. The powertrain is capable of a total system output of 408 horsepower and 479.2 pound-feet of torque as well as a provisional fuel efficiency of over 123 miles per gallon equivalent. All with the ability to hit 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. All-electric range is pegged at 31 miles thanks to a 12-kWH lithium-ion battery. More details than you can shake a stick at are available below. Audi says the TT offroad concept, which blends both coupe and compact SUV, could be a preview of "a new model in a future TT family," so if you've been hoping for another entry in the growing crossover coupe segment, tell Audi you'd like to see this in the real world some day. The Audi TT offroad concept show car Study combines the sportiness of a coupe with the utility of a compact SUV Powerful and efficient e-tron quattro drive with Audi Wireless Charging technology Prof. Dr.

Audi re-illuminates Sport Quattro with Laserlight concept for CES

Automakers typically spend months working on a concept car, then unveil it at a car show and move on to the next. But Audi has demonstrated a propensity at refining the same concepts and bringing them back for more. Just look at how many time Audi iterated its E-Tron concept, and how many diesel R8s it toyed with. It brought the Italdesign Parcour out of retirement and rechristened it the Audi Nanuk, and it's been doing the same with the Quattro concept for the past several years. The German automaker rolled out the first Quattro concept back in 2010, and followed up with the reborn Sport Quattro concept less than a year ago. And now it's preparing to unveil yet another.
Called the Sport Quattro Laserlight concept, this time it's not as radical a departure from the Sport Quattro concept as that was from the first Quattro concept. In fact, there's really only one vital difference. That'd be the laser headlights "that leave all previous systems in the dark," according to the press release below. The system uses matrix LEDs around the outside of the element as low beams, and lasers on the inside for high beams. Measured in mere microns, the laser diodes are significantly smaller than LEDs, while lighting up the road ahead for nearly half a kilometers (1,640 feet), providing twice the lighting range and three times the brightness of LED high beams.
Otherwise the concept car you see here and which Audi will display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week is essentially the same as the one it showed in Frankfurt this past September. It's got the same measurements, wearing the same CFRP bodywork, with the same interior and the same 700-horsepower hybrid powertrain, only the yellow exterior has been repainted Plasma Red and the black interior redone in a more low-key Slate Grey, as you can see from the high-res image gallery above.