2009 Audi A6 3.0 Premium Quattro on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.

Audi to show hydrogen Q6 in Detroit

Audi is allegedly bringing a hydrogen-powered concept to the Motor City next month. The report comes from Autocar, which cites German media in claiming the new concept, tipped to be called the Q6 H-Tron, will ride on the same MLB architecture as the E-Tron Quattro Concept, shown at Frankfurt earlier this year. In fact, it sounds like the Detroit concept will look more or less like the Frankfurt concept, just with low-mounted hydrogen fuel cells instead of battery packs. That said, Audi didn't come right out and tell Autocar that the Q6 H-Tron was coming to Detroit. Instead, a company spokesman told the website that "a concept car with new drive technology" will be shown at next month's show. But this seems like a safe bet. As Audi continues to cope with the fallout of its diesel emissions scandal, shifting focus to an even more alternative fuel source would be a sound strategy, even if it is just a PR move. Whatever Audi ends up showing in Detroit, we'll be live at the show to report on all of it. Look for more in mid January.