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Audi investing $30.3 billion through 2018 for product expansion

How does Audi plan to reach two million units in annual sales and pay for the 11 new models it's adding to its lineup - an expansion that may include models named SQ2, Q9 and F-Tron? By increasing its investment to 22 billion euros ($30.3 billion US) between now and 2018. That figure represents an increase of about 500 million euros over the previously planned outlay, according to a report by Automotive News, and that could be due to Audi wishing to goad the momentum that pushed it to 1.5 million annual sales two years ahead of schedule.
It's also about staving off the challenges from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Now that BMW has been able to turn some of its attention away from its "i" series of Megacity cars, it will reportedly spend more than planned in 2014 as it continues the rollout of ten all-new vehicles and 15 new-generation vehicles through the end of next year. Mercedes, having been dropped to third in the sales race, is preparing to add 13 new cars over the next six years.
Audi's money is going into technology, into product like the next-generation TT and the Q1 and production expansions and upgrades all over the world. The expenditure represents just under a fourth of Volkswagen's 84.2 billion-euro ($115.7 US) outlay devoted to taking the number-one global automaker title away from General Motors and Toyota by 2018.

Student driver backs over motorcycle at intersection

You always have to be vigilant on a motorcycle. Take this helmet cam video as an extremely unfortunate example of that. While waiting at an intersection, the rider has to watch while a Toyota RAV4 backs over his cycle. He was lucky not to suffer any injuries in the freak occurrence, but the bike sustained serious damage. The rider laid out the whole story on Reddit and explained that the person behind the wheel of the RAV4 was a student driver. The motorcyclist says that he was aware of the crossover, but never expected it to reverse at high speed through of the intersection. With no time to really think, he chose to bail off the bike, and the decision might have saved his life. "The video ends where it does because there is absolutely nothing exciting happening afterwards," the rider wrote on Reddit. There wasn't any yelling afterward; they just talked. Police gave the student driver a ticket when they arrived. The bike might be finished, though. In a separate post on Reddit, the rider says that the accident "pierced the engine and the gas tank," bent the radiator, and did a lot of other damage, too. Related Video: News Source: Reddit [1], [2], sebo666666 via YouTube, Jalopnik Toyota Crossover Motorcycle Bikes Videos viral video motorcycle accident helmet cam

Ford only automaker to make 2012 Buzz Rankings, Toyota most improved

Ford landed itself a spot among the top 10 brands in the 2012 Buzz Rankings. The annual index scores 1,100 brands in 41 categories to determine which nameplates had the most positive buzz throughout the year.
For the third year in a row, Subway took the top honors overall with a score of 40.3, and Ford was the only automaker to break into the top 25 by earning a sixth-place finish overall. The manufacturer earned a score of 32.1 points, which was enough to push it up one spot from the 2011 Buzz Rankings. Honda managed 21.2 points overall, which is still well behind 25th-place Kohl's at 26.5 points. Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW all round out the top five automakers.
The 2012 Buzz Rankings also keep track of which brands improved the most over the past year, and this year, Toyota was the manufacturer with the largest leap forward. The Japanese automaker jumped from just 14 points in 2011 to 20.5 in 2012. Chrysler, Kia, Dodge and Volkswagen all saw sizable steps forward as well. Be sure to head over to the Brand Index site for more information.