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The 2010 Audi A8 has arrived, boasting advanced safety features and a new touchpad satnav system After the excitement (and tedium) of the official 2010 Audi A8 launch in Miami, we can now sink our teeth into the details of the all-new luxury limousine. The new generation Audi A8 will introduce a “new era in progressive excellence” and as well as the headline technologies — a unique touch-pad built into the infotainment MMI system, an eight-speed automatic gearbox, night vision and industry-first full LED front headlights — the car has been given a visual update. There are no wild styling cues to be seen; Audi has kept the sheet metal conservative and very much in line with the company’s design philosophy. Depending on where you stand, this will be viewed as good for business or a continuation of a boring design theme. Appearing almost like an up-sized A4, with subtle hints of the R8 sports car in its front fascia, the new A8 represents a restrained design, bu...

Four-ringed brand's expansion continues unabated The model onslaught from Ingolstadt will continue despite the global financial crisis. That was the message from Audi Chairman Rupert Stalder (pictured) after the German firm’s annual general board meeting yesterday. Stadler’s speech following the meeting reconfirmed the brand’s commitment to rapidly expand its range to 40 models by 2015 despite the dramatic change to the economy around the world. He was quick to trumpet Audi’s success against arch-rivals BMW and Mercedes- Benz in key markets around the world while explaining the continued importance of its expansion plans. “Audi has been managing its business systematically and profitably for many years,” Stadler said. “We have never grown for growth’s sake, but always in order to place Audi on a firm footing. We identified risks early on and took advantage of opportunities; we have caught up to peers in a peerless fashion; we have launched one enthralling vehicle after a...

A1 confirmed for Oz, Q3 a possibility, but A5 Sportback not cleared yet The MINI-rivalling Audi A1 will definitely reach Australian shores sometime next year, says Audi Australia’s General Manager Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf. “It’s definitely a car for Australia,” she told the Carsales Network during the launch of the latest Q5 variants to be released locally, the 2.0 TDI and 3.2 FSI models. When asked about the Q3 SUV, which was recently confirmed would go into production, she was less certain, although there remains a fairly strong likelihood of us seeing the sub-Q5 model here. “It’s definitely something we will look at for Australia,” she said. “If there’s a market here, as long as there’s a business case for it, you’ll see it here.” On the basis of Audi’s track record, we would take that to mean ‘yes’ for the Q3 in Australia… Burgdorf did not care to comment on whether we’ll see the A5 Sportback Down Under — on the very sensible grounds that it’s o...

Audi explains Q5's local launch failures Audi has jumped to assuage prospective purchasers’ concerns over steering failures on its new Q5 at its local launch last week. The failures were reported here. Two Q5s suffered steering failures during the drive program last week. Since then a third Q5 has failed during launch activities. The Q5s suffered power steering leaks, resulting in loss of servo assistance while the vehicles were being evaluated by journalists. Both of the initial instances occurred within a kilometre of each other on the third leg of the launch drive program. All Q5s affected were 3.0 TDI V6 turbodiesel models. The cars had just completed a long section of unsealed road from Yarrangobilly Caves in southern NSW but were actually on bitumen at the time sufficient steering fluid had leaked from the system for assistance to be lost — immediately, in the case of one vehicle. In the vehicle transporting this writer at the time, the symptoms initially s...

New RS models caught testing at the Nurburgring Audi is about to RS up its range! Having maintained a stance of ‘one RS model at a time’ until now, the Ingolstadt-based German marque appears set to abandon that philosophy in favour of a new model hi-po onslaught. These spy pictures obtained by Carparazzi show that both RS 5 and RS 3 models are well advanced. They will join the current RS 6 and new TT RS in the widest high-performance Audi line-up ever. The writing was on the wall when the four-ringed brand pulled the covers off the TT RS Coupe at the recent Geneva motor show, signalling a changed plan of attack for Audi’s answer to Benz’s AMG and BMW’s M division. Previously one model run had to finish before another started hence why Audi isn’t currently offering an RS version of the new A4 as it instead builds the bigger RS 6 sedan and Avant . There have been rumours and speculation about an RS 5 ever since the attractive coupe was launched in A5/S5 form. Now these...

Smaller engines, more turbos and higher performance diesels are all on the agenda according to Audi's powertrain boss Audi’s Head of Powertrain Development, Wolfgang Hatz, says the company will expand its range of turbocharged petrol and diesel engines and move to multi-turbo engines as it downsizes powerplants and searches for performance advantages over its rivals. Speaking exclusively with the Carsales Network at the recent Geneva Motor Show, the German marque’s engine and drivetrain boss confirmed the company was working on smaller powerplants, but commented that already some model ranges within the Audi line-up had reached the extent of their capacity reduction. “Downsizing is on everybody’s mind,” Hatz commented. “But it is not something we have adopted in the last few months — we did it always. We started it with our turbo FSI strategy — if you look at the performances we can achieve with our four-cylinder range. “Downsizing is working well if the customer...

A detuned version of the engine that powered the R10 to victory at Le Mans has been installed in a concept based on the R8 road car A time of 4.2 seconds to accelerate to 100km/h is nothing to write home about in these enlightened times. But it is if the car achieving that time is diesel-powered. Enter the Audi R8 V12 TDI Concept. Audi has built the special R8 — finished in Grace Silver — for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It’s not as if the R8 isn’t stunning in petrol-powered production form ), but the diesel concept is a monster, with its V12 displacing 5.9 litres and developing 1000Nm of torque, on tap from 1750rpm to 3000rpm.  As well as the acceleration this engine affords, it will also drive the R8 concept up to a top speed of 300km/h, according to Audi. The acceleration time shaves 0.4 seconds off the time set by the R8 4.2 FSI quattro, which produces a 430Nm of torque at much higher engine speeds (4500 to 6000rpm). With two diesel part...