Audi News

  • 2019 Audi e-tron prototype

    In the wake of its massive diesel emissions scandal, VW and its luxury brand Audi apologized by promising to deliver electric cars. Now that effort has been delayed by the arrest of Audi's CEO, Rupert Stadler, who was scheduled to introduce the brand's first electric car, the 2019 Audi e-tron SUV, at an event in Brussels on August 30. Now Audi has postponed the launch event, according to a report in the Financial Times. READ THIS: Audi details battery for 2019 e-tron electric SUV The event had been scheduled to beat Audi's largest competitors, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, to market with electric...

  • Audi CEO Rupert Stadler
    Audi CEO arrested in Germany over diesel scandal

    VW's diesel scandal is far from over. In the latest move on the political chessboard, German authorities arrested the head of VW's luxury division Audi at his home Monday morning according to a Reuters report. German authorities cited concerns that Stadler could obstruct their ongoing investigation...

  • 2019 Audi e-tron prototype
    Camera mirrors could add range to Audi e-tron electric SUV

    Audi is pulling out all the efficiency stops on its upcoming electric e-tron SUV. It's currently slated to be the first production car to offer cameras in place of exterior rearview mirrors. Exterior mirrors have always been a bane to automotive engineers trying to improve efficiency (not to...

  • 2019 Audi e-tron prototype
    Audi invests heavily in 20 electrified cars by 2025

    At its annual meeting Wednesday, Audi announced an ambitious plan to build 20 new electrified cars by 2025, most of them battery electrics,. The company says it will invest $47.6 billion (40 billion euros) into these electrified cars, a new app platform for its cars, a new fleet of autonomous...

  • 2018 Tesla Model S
    Audi, BMW, Mercedes large electric luxury sedans to aim above Tesla Model S?

    The Tesla Model S occupies an interesting position among "luxury" sedans and hatchbacks. It's far from the best-equipped vehicle compared to mid-size and full-size competitors from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz, but that doesn't seem to matter to its 200,000 or so buyers to date. The good...

  • Teaser for Audi e-tron GT
    Audi e-tron GT electric "super sedan" to challenge Tesla Model S

    First came the Tesla Model S, followed by the Model X. Then Audi, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz rolled out their plans for single long-range electric luxury models to compete with Tesla. Now, the Germans are teasing their plans for further electric cars aimed at Tesla, with the Audi Sport e-tron GT the...

  • Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]

    Well, that's awkward. At its annual media briefing on Wednesday, Volkswagen Group executives said the costs of meeting new emission tests in the EU, lowering carbon emissions globally, and launching multiple new electric models would eat into the company's profits. With the company's diesels in disfavor even in Europe and unlikely to reappear in North America, VW brand chief Herbert Diess said the costs of cutting carbon emissions "pose the greatest challenge for us as a company" through 2020. DON'T MISS: VW Group has nailed down $25 billion of batteries for electric cars, it said today The...

  • Volkswagen turbodiesels await their fate near Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs
    In pictures: Volkswagen TDI diesels await their fate in Pike's Peak shadow

    It might be the world’s largest single-company junkyard and pick-a-part business, if not for the prominent "No Trespassing" and "Drone-Free Zone" signs. Instead, it’s a massive storage facility in Colorado for thousands of disgraced VW and Audi TDI diesel vehicles awaiting whatever fate...

  • Camouflaged 2019 Audi e-tron electric SUV on stage at 2018 Geneva auto show
    Audi e-tron electric SUV appears in camouflage at Geneva show, on city roads

    The Geneva auto show was expected to offer the first head-to-head comparison between the first two all-electric SUVs models from European luxury brands, both starting deliveries later this year. It didn't quite work out that way. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace did indeed debut last Friday, before media...

  • 2015 Porsche Cayenne Diesel
    Porsche kills off its diesels, because customers no longer want them

    Of the three brands caught up in the Volkswagen diesel emission scandal in the U.S., Porsche was by far the least affected. It had sold only one diesel model, a version of its Cayenne performance SUV fitted with a 3.0-liter turbodiesel developed by its VW Group sibling Audi. Regulators approved...

  • Ionity multi-brand European charging network
    BMW, Mercedes, Ford, VW, Audi launch Ionity high-power fast charging across Europe

    A group of automakers in Europe announced on Friday they will launch "Ionity," a network of high-power fast-charging stations to build out the continent's infrastructure for electric-car travel. When it's finished in 2020, Ionity will include 400 charging stations across multiple countries...

  • 2015 Audi Q7 TDI
    Regulators approve updates to some Audi, VW, Porsche 3.0-liter diesel SUVs

    State and federal environmental regulators announced Monday they had approved modifications to illegally polluting Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche SUVs fitted with VW Group's 3.0-liter V-6 TDI turbodiesel engine The EPA and California Air Resources Board sent a letter Friday to VW announcing the...

  • BMW i Vision Dynamics concept, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show    [photo: Tom Moloughney]

    Yes, yes, yes, we know: our readers and Twitter followers are largely very strong supporters of, and believers in, Tesla and its electric cars. Our challenge for last week's Twitter poll was that we get very, very few characters to post questions and a choice of four responses. So in asking which of four makers would sell most electric luxury cars by 2020, we simply didn't have room to put something along the lines of "besides Tesla." DON'T MISS: Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV has already accumulated 25,000 orders: CEO We responded to the immediate protests and condemnations in the poll's...

  • 2014 BMW i3 and 2014 Tesla Model S   [photo: Tom Moloughney]
    Will Tesla steamroller German luxury makers? Perhaps not

    It has become an article of faith among some Tesla fans and owners that the company will inevitably rise to compete with and ultimately defeat the titans of the global auto industry. This belief is especially prevalent for the luxury sector, where three German carmakers dominate the global market...

  • BMW i Vision Dynamics concept, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show    [photo: Tom Moloughney]
    Which maker will sell most electric luxury cars by 2020? Take our Twitter poll

    It has taken several years for European luxury makers to sort out what to do about the unexpected arrival of Tesla and its electric cars into a market they've dominated for decades. Sure, Lexus and a host of lesser Asian makes have competitive products somewhere between premium and luxury, but...

  • Audi Aicon concept
    Audi's self-driving e-tron electric concepts: Aicon (Level 5) and Elaine (Level 4) at Frankfurt

    The 2017 Frankfurt Motor Showed offered a very specific ethos this year: electric and self-driving cars. Many automakers used the bright lights and gleaming stands to reveal their interpretation of a future with all-electric and driverless vehicles. Audi was not absent from the theme. DON'T MISS...

  • Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, Washington
    Used diesel demand drops in Germany over fear of software upgrades

    Diesel-powered cars, long a staple on European roads, are starting to lose favor as million of dollars of inventory begins to pile up in used diesel models. The inventory, largely recent models certified under the superseded Euro-5 emission standards, has boomed recently over the possibility the...

  • Audi and Chinese firm Alta Devices team up to develop a glass solar roof panel
    Transparent solar cells to let Audi capture energy from glass roofs

    Solar energy has long generated electricity both on building roofs and in huge "solar farms" for utility companies, but only a few cars have had solar panels on their bodies. Solar roofs aren't a new concept, but Audi and Alta Devices' solution would be the most transparent photovoltaic solar roof...

  • 2017 Audi RS 7

    It has been nearly two years since Volkswagen came clean and admitted its "clean diesel" engines were actually quite dirty. In 2015, a VW engineer admitted the TDI diesel cars sold in the U.S. since 2009 were outfitted with "defeat device" software that let them pass emission tests, only to emit far more nitrogen oxides in real-world use. Two years is a long time to implement damage control, which has cost VW Group $25 billion to date—but the story is continuing to unfold. DON'T MISS: Lasting legacy of VW diesel scandal: EU gets serious about testing A former Audi engineer has now...

  • 2017 Audi A5 Sportback g-tron (European model), driven, Aug 2017  [photo: Ronan Glon]
    Audi A5 Sportback g-tron: first drive of natural-gas luxury sport sedan

    Audi’s vision of future mobility primarily centers around an array of long-range electric cars scheduled to debut in the coming years under the "e-tron" badge. These are intended to be Tesla killers, as they’re often called in Germany. But there’s another kind of tron with a...

  • 2013 Audi TDI range
    Audi, Mercedes now updating European diesels for emissions; more to come?

    Both Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Volkswagen Group have approved new plans to retrofit older diesel-powered vehicles with new software at no cost to owners. The largest number of such cars will be in Europe. The news comes amid the latest allegations surrounding German automakers and their...

  • 2014 BMW 328d
    EU investigating diesel collusion among Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, VW: report

    As numerous political probes over the years have famously shown, once investigators dig into the circumstances around an alleged crime, anything can happen. The September 2015 announcement by the EPA that VW Group engineers had admitted to deliberate cheating on U.S. emission tests of the company's...

  • 2014 Audi A7 TDI
    Tough Audi decision alleged: diesel-emission gear or profitable high-end audio systems?

    Although it's not been in U.S. news much lately, the VW diesel scandal continues to unfold in Germany, as prosecutors continue their investigations over whether criminal acts were committed under German law. That doesn't mean U.S. investigations have finished, however. Last week's arrest in Germany...

  • 2019 Audi A8
    2019 Audi A8 to offer plug-in hybrid version; 48-volt mild hybrid on all models

    Audi may have taken an evolutionary approach to the design of the newest, largest luxury sedan, but it is positioning the car as a technical force to be reckoned with. The 2019 Audi A8 ushers in a new era for the German luxury brand—starting now, every single model will soon feature a...

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