by Damon Lavrinc

CAR has been releasing what it’s called “official sketches” from Audi execs privy to the future of the four-ringed automaker. This latest drawing shows what Ingolstadt plans to pit against the Mercedes CLS in the burgeoning sports sedan segment, likely to be dubbed the A7. Built off the next generation A6 platform, the shapely sedan will get similar styling cues as its cross-town rival, with a steeply raked roof flowing into what looks like a low-slung hatch.

Power is expected to come from either a three-liter V6 or a 4.8-liter V8, with the RS model fitted with a Lamborghini-sourced V10 in either naturally aspirated or twin-turbo’d trim. Expect a 4.2-liter TDI unit to be available in Europe as well.

Pricing will land squarely between the A6 and A8, so its safe to assume that prices abroad will be in the £35,000-£50,000 range, with the possibility of a soft-top model also being offered further down the road.

According to CAR, the A7 will make its debut at the 2008 New York Auto Show, with sales beginning in September 2009.

[Source: CAR]

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by Dan Roth

SEAT, being under the VAG corporate umbrella, certainly knows what’s been going on with Audi’s racing diesels. Perhaps the division looks up to its Ingolstadt cousins with admiration, and it’s hoping that imitation yields the same type of success. SEAT will be the first manufacturer to field a diesel-powered entry in the FIA’s World Touring Car Championship. Two TDI racers will take to the macadam on July 28th and 29th in Sweden.

The car itself is a Leon sporting a 2-liter diesel engine that’s based on the 170PS street-going mill. In WTCC trim, power is up to 280PS, and the turbocharger and gearbox have been swapped for racing units. The rules stipulate that a diesel car carry a 30kg weight penalty, and the attendant hardware for the powertrain shifts the weight distribution in a bad direction. SEAT is banking on the moves the chassis provides, as well as the muscular torque delivery of the diesel to make the Leon competitive.

Press release after the jump

[Source: SEAT]

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The origins of Audi
The company traces its origins back to 1899 and August Horch. The first Horch automobile was produced in 1901 in Zwickau. In 1910, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded. He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and a German court determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was forced to refrain from using his own family name in his new car business. Horch immediately called a meeting at the apartment of Franz Fikentscher to come up with a new name for his company. During this meeting Franz’s son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, “Father - audiatur et altera pars… wouldn’t it be a good idea to call it AUDI instead of HORCH?”. “Horch!” in German means “Hark!” which is “Audi” in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. [1] It is also popularly (but incorrectly) believed that Audi is an acronym which stands for “Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt”.
Audi started with a 2612 cc (2.6 Liter) four cylinder model followed by a 3564 cc (3.6 L) model, as well as 4680 cc (4.7 L) and 5720 cc(5.7L) models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. August Horch left the Audi company in 1920. The first six cylinder model ,4655 cc (4.7 L) appeared in 1924. In 1928, the company was acquired by Jørgen Rasmussen, owner of DKW, who bought the same year the remains of the US automobile manufacturer, Rickenbacker including the manufacturing equipment for eight cylinder engines. These engines were used in Audi Zwickau and Audi Dresden models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, six cylinder and a small four cylinder (licensed from Peugeot) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.

Source: Wikipedia

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by Alex Nunez

On the eve of the Shanghai Motor Show, Audi will hold a press conference at which Chairman of the Board of Management, Rupert Stadler, will unveil a design study of what the automaker only describes as a “compact performance SUV.” Needless to say, our interest is piqued. The reveal is scheduled to occur at 11:15AM GMT Thursday, so we’ll make sure we’re up bright and early to bring you the details in time for your morning coffee.

Stay tuned. (And no, the image above is not of the Shanghai concept. It’s just a file photo.)

[Source: Audi AG]

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by Damon Lavrinc

A few of us around the Autoblog offices are eagerly anticipating the oil burning fight about to take place at this year’s Le Mans. Audi’s dominance of the field last year made for some entertaining races, but for 2007, the R10 may finally have some serious competition.

The Peugeot 908 HDi was recently unveiled, and apart from looking the biz, the V12 diesel is laying down 850 ft.-lbs. of torque and over 700 HP. The images in our gallery can only begin to do such a beast justice, so Peugeot released a video of the 908 running the Le Castellet circuit in the South of France under the expert control of Paul Ricard.

The video is after the jump, and if you haven’t had the chance, be sure to check out the pics of Audi’s newest rival.

[Source: YouTube via Jalopnik]

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by Dan Roth

CG cars assault us from all angles, whether we know it or not. These days, much of what we see in car spots on television is created from bits of data, not bits of ore. No matter, the renderings are still labor-intensive to produce. For spots, the animators are often working with CAD files provided by the manufacturer’s engineering department. The ability to create a CG car out of thin air is a boon to the concept-rendering community as well. An obvious example of CG’s capability is the recent Superduty Superbowl ad. Less obvious use of CG can be found in Jeep’s “Bigger, Deffer” spot, where the entire Wrangler is assembled out of 0’s and 1’s.

French digital artist extrodinaire Gabriel Rabhi has harnessed processor cycles to create an Audi A7 out of pure conjecture. Of course, there is no such thing as an A7 (yet), but rumors abound. Rabhi created the car as a skill-building exercise, to get a better handle on modelling techniques for complex objects. The multiple facets of an automobile’s structure and skin are time consuming and often difficult to model. Cars are created almost entirely out of complex curves, and the only way to geometrically model such an organic form is by using NURBS curves. If it sounds complex, that’s because it is.

Conclusion plus more photos after the jump

[Source: fourtitude]

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