2006 Audi Tt Quattro Special Edition Coupe 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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Audi pins hopes on 2016 R18 Le Mans prototype

Down but not out, Audi is carrying forward its endurance racing program with the new R18 you see here. Unveiled on Saturday at the Audi Sport Finale end-of-season event in Munich, the new LMP1 is billed as the company's its most powerful and efficient race car yet. And it has been thoroughly redesigned to bring the Four Ring brand back to the winner's circle. Though technical details remain a closely guarded secret, Audi says that the latest evolution of the R18 (now apparently labeled sans the E-Tron Quattro) benefits from revised aero, lightweight construction, and "a modified hybrid system with lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, plus an efficiency-optimized TDI engine." That spells the end of the mechanical fly-wheel setup of the previous version, but sticks to the diesel fuel that Audi has championed instead of the gasoline favored by rivals Porsche and Toyota. With all its revisions, Ingolstadt undoubtedly hopes this latest version will perform better than the last. This past season was the worst Audi has endured since 2009. Its sister company Porsche beat it to both the drivers' and manufacturers' titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship and to the winner's circle at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That marked the second straight year of defeat in the championship, following Toyota's domination last season, and marked only the third time Audi was defeated at Le Mans since 2000, following Bentley's win in '03 and Peugeot's in '09. In order to avoid costly inter-agency arms race, Audi and Porsche have agreed to each field two entries instead of three in both the championship and the headline race in Western France. Audi has yet to confirm its driver lineup, but Porsche has revealed its lineup consisting of defending champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber in one car, and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, and Marc Lieb in the other. That leaves out the Le Mans-winning trio of Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy, and Earl Bamber, with the former already counted out due to an F1 conflict. More powerful and efficient than ever before: Audi R18 celebrates world premiere in Munich - New hybrid race car for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours - Unchanged driver line-up in the DTM - High demand for new Audi R8 LMS GT3 sports car The brand with the four rings will be entering the 2016 motorsport season with the most powerful and efficient race car Audi has ever built.

Audi tops BMW and Mercedes in luxury sales

April was a good month for Audi, as the four-ring automaker beat out both Mercedes-Benz and BMW in sales. Bloomberg reports that it was America's appetite for CUVs like the Q5 and ancient Q7 that helped Audi move nearly 153,000 units around the globe. It's not all good news, though. Audi's worldwide sales only jumped by 2.5 percent, compared to BMW and Mercedes, whose sales increased 5.6 and 11 percent, respectively. On top of that, BMW is still the best-selling brand (of the three, anyway) so far in 2015, outselling Audi by roughly 9,000 units and Mercedes by about 23,000 vehicles. Considering the faster growth of its rivals, it's unclear if Audi will be able to hang onto the monthly sales crown beyond April, or if BMW will continue its reign as the world's biggest luxury automaker.

VW Group plan puts Porsche in charge of a 'super-premium' division

An Automobile report looks into what's happening on the organizational and technical sides of the Volkswagen Group, and what those changes could mean for the premium brands. The wide-angle view is that Porsche appears to have been anointed to "coordinate the future activities" at Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. Audi would cede Lamborghini guardianship to Stuttgart, and Ducati — via a new concern called Ducati Enterprises — would become the shepherd for VW's other Italian investments. Executives target Jan. 1, 2019, to complete the reshuffle. VW wants to save a boodle by tying up four of its five top-tier brands, and putting the one with the highest ROI in charge. Porsche, within its own house, wants to reduce expenditures by $2.3 billion per year over for four years, the savings already earmarked for improving internal processes like R&D and production. Having Porsche share those gains as well as lead development of platforms, components and future-tech strategies for the sister sports car brands could benefit everyone. In the near-term, the brands have their own plans: Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann is said to want a Chiron Superleggera, a roofless and "completely reskinned" Chiron Aperta, and a track-only Chiron SS. The Superleggera could take the Chiron Sport's and Divo's Jenny Craig routines even further. The Aperta seems a natural successor to the Veyron Grand Sport, a natural evolution of the recently introduced Sky View roof, and a reskin might include numerous Divo cues. It's also said Bugatti's considering "an all-electric high-end model" in conjunction with Porsche, Rimac, and Dallara, but name one supercar or hypercar manufacturer that isn't considering a lightning-fast EV. Lamborghini, deep into work on follow-ups for the Huracan and Aventador, might get a bit of a bump with the new plan. The carbon "monofuselage" for the next V12 flagship is said to be too far developed and too complex to scrap. It puts two electric motors on the front axle, batteries in the middle, and a naturally aspirated V12 with around 770 horsepower plus another e-motor with 402 horsepower in back. The Huracan is said to get a version of the same carbon architecture at the moment, but the corporate reorganization might press pause on it. Automobile says options include continuing the Huracan/ Audi R8 twinning, but that depends on Audi saying "Ja" to a third-gen R8 with Lamborghini bones.