Audi News

  • 2018 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 looks, fast and silent performance, and the Supercharger fast-charging network remains a combination no other automaker has matched. DON'T MISS: Germans are coming for Tesla, paper says, so now it's 'interesting' (Oct 2016) It was clear more than three years ago the world's luxury automakers were...

  • 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]
    Cutting carbon, meeting real-life emission tests, new electric cars to hurt profits, VW says

    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...

  • 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

    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, supporting all electric cars that adhere to the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) protocol. However, work begins immediately, and the coalition of automakers said it will install 20 charging stations in 2017. DON'T MISS: Porsche's 800-Volt fast charging for electric cars: why it matters BMW, Mercedes-Benz's...

  • 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]
    Which (non-Tesla) maker will sell most electric luxury cars by 2020? Poll results

    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...

  • 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

    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 cars will not meet future emission limits to be enacted in German cities. German automakers and their various brands—BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen and more—have responded to the tougher regulations with diesel software-update initiatives. DON'T MISS: Audi, Mercedes now updating...

  • 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
    Audi diesel: another shoe drops as top VW Group execs implicated

    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...

  • 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

    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 of a former Audi executive, Zacchio Giovanni Pamio, on charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, indicate that investigators in the two countries may be cooperating. DON'T MISS: Germany investigates possible Audi diesel emission cheats He's the second former VW Group executive to be...

  • 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...

  • Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, Washington
    Diesel deception: more pain ahead for VW brands, Bosch?

    Volkswagen Group is moving toward wrapping up its diesel deceit in the United States, but in Europe, it may only be starting. European owners of Volkswagen Group vehicles—Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, and Skoda—may justifiably feel as if they've received the short end of the stick when it...

  • Audi e-tron Sportback concept, 2017 Shanghai auto show
    Audi e-tron Sportback, second electric car from automaker, to enter production in 2019

    Audi has confirmed what was seemingly already known: the e-tron Sportback concept is headed to production. The e-tron Sportback concept was revealed at the 2017 Shanghai auto show earlier this year and the production version will arrive in 2019 bearing the same name. The brand last week confirmed...

  • 2014 Audi A8 TDI
    Germany investigates possible Audi diesel emission cheats

    Just as the Volkswagen Group begins to wind down its diesel scandal in the United States, things may be ramping up in Europe. A German government task force discovered a new type of defeat device in Audi vehicles, which allows the cars to cheat emission tests. Both V-6 and V-8 powered Audi A8...

  • Audi e-tron Quattro concept - 2016 Consumer Electronics Show
    Audi confirms (again) 3 electric cars on the market by 2020

    German automakers are beginning to play catch-up with electric vehicles, as Tesla continues to corner the market. Audi has once again reconfirmed its plans to bring three battery-powered electric vehicles to production by the year 2020. The German luxury brand reiterated the plan at the annual...

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