Frankfurt Show Preview: New Audi A2 Concept

These past few years, Audi and the German premium automakers in general, have set out to fill every possible niche consumers may or may not think they need, from luxurious superminis to wild supercars. And they are far from done.

At the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt auto show, Audi will lift the covers off a new pure-electric concept study that revives the name of long gone A2.

The original model was a small MPV built from 1999 to 2005 that was way ahead of its time in several ways, but what made it truly unique was that it was manufactured entirely out of aluminum.

Read more »

Audi Publishes New Pictures of Urban Sportback and Spyder Concepts

After teasing us with a couple of videos and a few sketches, Audi has now unleashed a wave of computer generated images of its two-seat Urban Sportback and Spyder concept models, both of which will receive their world premiere at the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany. Read more »

Audi Urban Sportback Concept to be Joined by a Spyder Version at Frankfurt Show

At next month's Frankfurt auto show, Audi will show not one, but two variants of its Urban pure-electric city car concept. Following the presentation of the Urban Sportback (that's how the Germans describe the closed-top variant in its latest release) fitted with a sliding canopy, Audi today released the first renderings of the Spyder model.

Rather than simply chopping off the rood and strengthening the front windshield frame, Audi's designers opted for a low, continuous window area while the Spyder also gains a pair of doors that open upwards diagonally.

Read more »

U-Spy: Audi Q7 Pickup Truck is the Real Deal

A little over a month ago, we showed you a photo of a two-door Audi Q7 Pickup Truck, wondering at the same time if the picture was real or the result of some handy digital manipulation.

Earlier this week, Carscoop reader "Majdo-dk" tipped us off through our comments that the Audi Q7 Pickup Truck does indeed exist in real life, and to prove it, he pointed us towards a Facebook page with four photos of the one-off model.

Read more »

Frankfurt Preview: Audi's Urban e-Tron Minicar Concept

It's showtime for Audi that just released the first sketches of its Frankfurt Motor Show-bound Urban Concept a couple of days after a camouflaged prototype made a public appearance at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin Germany during a video shoot.

The official sketches show a lower and sleeker design with more futuristic styling elements than what we saw in the video footage of the car, but that's usually the case with all designer renderings.

Audi says the Urban Concept is an ultra-light car for congested urban spaces that is not based on any previous model. It is built around a central carbonfibre monocoque and rolls on massive wheels with a 21-inch diameter.

Read more »

New Audi City Car Concept Scooped on Film

Carscoop reader Marina tipped us off about an odd-looking micro car wearing Audi badges and a zebra stripe disguise that was caught filming at the Potsdamer Platz, which is a large public square located in the center of the city of Berlin in Germany.

The poster of the Youtube videos said that Audi was shooting a commercial for the car. While we've yet to hear something official from the German company, chances are the tiny model is a new Audi concept vehicle that will be revealed at the rapidly approaching 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in the second week of September.

Read more »

New Audi A5 Coupe DTM Racing Concept to Replace A4 Sedan from 2012

Get excited DTM fans because there’s a new kid coming to town. We’re talking about Audi’s freshly revealed A5 Coupe racecar, internally named “R17,” that will replace the four-door A4 with which Audi has conquered the DTM title four times since 2004.

Ingolstadt’s new touring model is based on the facelifted A5 Coupe that was presented earlier this week and it complies with the new technical and safety regulations that will come in effect in the German touring model championship next year.

Read more »

Audi Q7 Pickup Truck Photo Begs the Question: Is it Real or Fake?

This photograph of an Audi Q7 SUV turned into a pickup with an aluminum truck bed appeared today on several sites, all pointing towards an Audi fan blog as the source.

Over the years, we’ve seen one too many photo-chops making the internet rounds to take everything we see online for granted. In this case, even though there appears to be an inconsistency in the shadows between the lower parts of the front door and the rear panel, we just can’t be 100 percent sure.

Read more »

Audi Q3 RS Rumors give Birth to Rendering

The latest news from Audi is that the Ingolstadt automaker is working on a high-performance version of its new Q3 compact SUV. According to inside sources quoted by Auto Motor und Sport magazine in its most recent issue, the brand with the four rings has even decided on the powertrain, which is none other than the 340HP 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five found under the hood of the TT RS and RS3 hot hatch. Read more »

Rumors: Audi Quattro Coupe May be Given the Green Light by September

The Audi Quattro Concept wowed the crowds at the 2010 Paris motor show. The favorable reaction of both the public and the press to the one-off concept that was created to celebrate the original Quattro’s 30th anniversary has sparked many rumors that Audi is seriously considering making a production version. Read more »

A Photo Tour of the VW Group’s 2011 Wörthersee Festival with 150 Images

For the past thirty year, tens of thousands of enthusiasts of Volkswagen Group cars assemble on the shores of Lake Worthersee in Austria to participate in the largest festival of its kind in the world. Over the years, Volkswagen and the other brands of the German group including Audi, Seat and Skoda, have used the show to unveil special concepts, new models and studies that hint at future production versions or accessories.

At this year’s event (June 1 to 4, 2011), the VW Group prepared several vehicles for the festival including the production VW Golf GTI 35 Edition with 235HP, the VW Golf Cabriolet GTI and R concepts, the wild 503HP Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro study, and the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Convertible prototype. As you may have noticed, the company didn’t show much love for its Seat brand which was left to display its current lineup.

Read more »

Audi Design Student Creates the Trimaran Hybrid Yacht

Audi's concept design studio in Munich came up with an interesting proposition for a luxury yacht that would wear the four-ring logo. The Trimaran is the project work of Pforzheim Technical College student Stefanie Behringer, who explains the idea behind the study:

“The Audi Trimaran is a new concept which integrates two jet skis in a motorboat. The hull architecture is based on a trimaran, consisting of a main center hull supported by two smaller outrigger hulls. Two jet skis are stored inside pods in the outriggers. The main boat is powered by two lightweight and efficient Audi TDI diesel engines, whereas the jet skis are electrically-driven,” said Behringer.

Read more »

Audi Prepares Insane 503HP A1 Clubsport Quattro for Worthersee Fest,

Every year, fans of the Volkswagen Group get together at the Wörthersee festival, held in Reifnitz, Austria, to share their passion about cars. The show is so big that the VW Group’s brands spare no money to develop dedicated one-off models for the event. Audi’s star attraction at this year’s Worthersee Tour (June 1 to 4, 2011), which celebrates its 30th anniversary, is the ludicrous A1 clubsport Quattro.

The one-off show car is a rally-inspired A1 hatch that uses a heavily modified version of the 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder petrol engine found in the TT RS and the RS3 Sportback. The five-pot normally produces 340-horsepower and 450 Nm (331.90 lb-ft), but thanks to the systematic tuning of the turbocharger, intercooler, induction tract and the exhaust, output has been boosted to 503-horsepower and 660 Nm (487 lb-ft) of torque.

Read more »

Audi Turns A3 Sedan Concept into e-tron Study with a Plug-in Hybrid Powertrain

Audi has been trying to show off its green credentials for quite some time now with a variety of plug-in hybrid and pure electric concepts, all sporting the e-tron nameplate, such as the 2009 e-tron Concept Coupe, the 2010 A1 e-tron, and more recently, the e-tron Spyder. Now, the brand with the four rings has prepared a new e-tron study, this time based on the A3 sedan concept shown at the Geneva Salon this past March.

The new A3 Sedan e-tron is a compact sized four-door saloon study featuring a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain, and it will receive its world premiere at this week’s 2011 Shanghai Auto Show in China.

Audi’s engineers replaced the Geneva concept model’s 408HP 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five with a hybrid powertrain comprising of a 211HP 1.4-liter TFSI gasoline unit with turbocharging and gasoline direct injection, and an electric motor with an output of 20 kW (27HP), for a combined system output of 238HP. A seven-speed S tronic dual clutch transmission is linked to the gasoline engine.

Read more »

Audi Drops Sketches of a Spyder Version of its Hardcore R8 GT

The 2012 A3 Sedan and Hatchback weren't the only future Audi models to be teased today, as another set of drawings previewing the R8 GT supercar in drop-top guise also hit the internet. Scheduled for a reveal in early 2012, the R8 GT Spyder will be the roadster version of the lightweight R8 GT Coupe. Read more »

Future Audi A3 Hatch and Sedan Previewed in Official Sketches

Audi released a set of sketches portraying the next-generation A3, which is expected to go on sale in late 2012. The officials drawings show the three-door hatchback and sedan versions, plus a view of the interior.

The A3 Sedan sketch does not come as a surprise, since it shows a car very similar in design with the A3 Concept premiered by Audi at the Geneva Motor Show. The three-door hatchback, however, is more interesting, as this is the first time Audi offers a sneak peak at the design of its future compact model.

The three-door version looks sharp and dynamic, sporting a narrow glasshouse, massive wheel arches and an interesting crease in the lower part of the door.

Read more »

Two Years the Wiser: Marouane Bembli Retackles his Audi R10 Design Study

Back in November of 2009, then 23yo Swedish industrial design student Marouane Bembli brought us an impressive design study for a proposed halo model for Audi to sit above the R8. With its sharp lines, centralized cockpit and Rolls-Royce Phantom rivalling proportions, the R10 was a pretty if unlikely proposal for a next generation Audi supercar.

Now, two years older and presumably a little wiser, Bembli has once again tackled the R10 in what I call the R10 v2.0. Though the concept of a low roofed, widebody coupe with a mid-mounted V10 remains the same, Bembli’s new-for-2011 R10 features a more aggressive front-end treatment, larger rear view mirrors and cabin windows and the addition of fighter jet-inspire side intakes.

Read more »

VW Group to Display Up to Seven Concepts at the Geneva Show

It seems that the VW Group will do just about anything to become the world’s biggest automaker by 2018. After announcing a €51.6 billion (US $70.3 billion) investment plan last November, the Germans also want to showcase their future intentions at the Geneva Motor Show in March, by displaying up to seven concepts.

Read more »

VW Group to Display Up to Seven Concepts at the Geneva Show

It seems that the VW Group will do just about anything to become the world’s biggest automaker by 2018. After announcing a €51.6 billion (US $70.3 billion) investment plan last November, the Germans also want to showcase their future intentions at the Geneva Motor Show in March, by displaying up to seven concepts.

Read more »

Audi Presents High-Tech Auto Union Type C e-tron Toy Car Study with All-Electric Drive

At this year’s International Toy Fair in Nuremberg (February 3-8), Audi will showcase a selection of model cars and other products, including the Auto Union Type C e-tron, a concept study with a fully-electric drive based on the firm's limited edition pedal car, which is sold through is quattro GmbH subsidiary.

Read more »