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2019 Tokyo Auto Salon features one of the coolest auctions we've seen

In just over a week, the Tokyo Auto Salon will host one of the coolest auctions we've seen in years. Jalopnik spotted BH Auction's listings, and it's a cornucopia of hot machinery you won't typically find at American auctions like Gooding & Company or Barrett Jackson. While Japanese cars make up most of the listings, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and even Dodge all have at least one car going up for auction. We won't include everything here, but you can check out the full list on BH Auction's website. There are 50 lots at the auction, including nine Nissan Skylines, nine Ferraris and two Porsche Carrera GTs. Some of our other favorites include a Honda S800 coupe, a Toyota Miniace truck, a Mitsubishi Willys Jeep and a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL gullwing with the V8 from a W124 Mercedes-Benz E60 AMG that's estimated to sell for between $1.25 million and $1.5 million. Related Video: News Source: BH Auction via Jalopnik Audi Dodge Ferrari Honda Mitsubishi Nissan Porsche Toyota Auctions Autoblog Minute nissan skyline mercedes-benz 300 sl

Despite EV push, Audi will lead hydrogen for VW Group

The cynics among us will assume that Volkswagen Group would rather not affix its flagship brand name to its main hydrogen fuel-cell efforts in the wake of that German automaker's diesel-emissions scandal. Instead, there's less of a taint in having those efforts led by VWs Audi division. And that's exactly what's going to happen, reportedly. Audi will lead Volkswagen's way towards selling hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to the general public, Automotive News Europe reports, citing comments Audi's new development head Stefan Knirsch recently made at VW headquarters in Germany. That first effort may come in the form of the H-Tron Quattro concept SUV that Audi unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January. That model is slated to have a 373-mile range on a full tank of hydrogen (using the optimistic European driving cycle) and includes a rooftop solar panel that can add 621 miles a year via sun rays. And true to Audi's performance-driving bent, the car will offer up to 282 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque, for a 0-62 miles per hour time of under seven seconds. Audi will also look to cut production costs by reducing precious metals such as platinum in fuel-cell stacks. As for plug-in vehicles, Audi said at last November's Los Angeles Auto Show that as much as 25 percent of new Audis will be plug-in vehicles by 2025. A month later, Audi said that the A3 E-Tron, which was launched in Europe in late 2014, was already accounting for a quarter of Audi sales in the Netherlands and Norway. Related Video: Featured Gallery Audi H-Tron Concept View 25 Photos News Source: Automotive News Europe-sub.req. Green Audi Volkswagen SUV Hydrogen Cars

Audi: 20-25% of our cars will have a plug by 2025

If you like the promise of Audi's E-Tron Quattro concept, you're going to love this post. Speaking at an intimate dinner in Los Angeles the night before the start of the Los Angeles Auto Show, Audi of America president Scott Keogh had nothing but positive things to say about his brand's future plug-in vehicles, including the production version of the E-Tron Quattro. The most interesting was that he said he expects a full 20 to 25 percent of Audi's sales to be electrified by around 2025, and there was lots of detail to back up his vision. "This is the reality as we see it." - Scott Keogh Keogh wasn't making specific predictions, but it's been a long while since we've heard such a high-level Audi executive act like such a troubadour for the electric vehicle future. As long-time readers will remember, we used to hear things like this from Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, but public predictions have taken a bit of a back seat recently. It's promising to hear reasonable optimism again. "When you look at what needs to happen and you look at what we see happening in the marketplace, we're probably looking at a world where 25 percent of Audi's sales, over the next ten years, just to throw out a rough point in the future, are either going to be full electric or have some plug," Keogh said. "This is the reality as we see it." The reason Keogh is so positive is because Audi thinks the E-Tron Quattro concept is going to birth one heck of an EV. Whatever it's called when it arrives – it's unlikely to be the Q6, as some rumors have it. Internally, Audi is calling it the C-BEV, since it is a C-segment Battery Electric Vehicle – the concept previews a luxury all-electric vehicle with a range of over 300 miles. No one is talking about the price yet, but Audi of America's director of product management, Filip Brabec, did say that the sweet spot for the pricing is in the range of how mainstream luxury vehicles are priced today. "If you can put a car in the market that's priced right ... people are going to want to buy it," Keogh said. Read into all of that what you will. It's not just the price that's going to be right. Keogh said that the key point is changing hearts and minds to want electric vehicles. That means tripling down on public infrastructure (see more below) and making sure the car itself is amazing. "Everyone knows, in the history of the world, launch a defining, game-changing product, in whatever category it bloody is, and - boom - the world changes," Keogh said.