Audi to Offer Google GPS & Internet Access in 2011 A8 Sedan

The A8 will be the first car worldwide to offer the WLAN/Hotspot option and surf the internet at speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s. All the driver needs to do is insert a SIM card into the Bluetooth car phone and you are ready, The hotspot is assumed to connect up to eight Wi-Fi ready devices and reportedly even supports WPA2 encryption.Also by bringing a variety of Google services and information to the luxury sedan via the internet. The services will be available in selected markets.

Volkswagen Group takes majority shareholding in Italdesign Giugiaro

Wolfsburg/Turin, May 25, 2010 – The Volkswagen Group and Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A.
(IDG), Turin, are to intensify their successful cooperation, putting it on a new footing.
This was announced by both companies at a joint press conference in Turin on
Tuesday. The Volkswagen Group will take a 90.1 percent stake in IDG, including the
brand name rights and patents. The shares are being acquired by AUDI's Italian
subsidiary Lamborghini Holding S.p.A. The remaining shares will stay in the
possession of the present owner family Giugiaro.
“With this shareholding in Italdesign, we are participating in one of the most renowned design
and development companies with one of the richest traditions in the automobile industry.
Italdesign is the flagship for creative Italian automobile design and has been instrumental in
shaping the face of the automobile industry worldwide. As the creator of the Golf I, Giorgetto
Giugiaro laid a new foundation for Volkswagen design in the 1970s,” Prof. Dr. Martin
Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft,
commented in Turin.
The Volkswagen Group has enjoyed successful cooperation with IDG for many decades.
Giugiaro made a name for himself not only with the Golf I, but also with concepts for
important models such as the first Volkswagen Passat, Scirocco or the Audi 80.
A comprehensive development framework agreement was concluded in 2008. Volkswagen
and IDG are also collaborating closely on ongoing projects such as the planned Volkswagen
Up! model family. Implementation of the agreement is also subject to the standard approval
by the relevant authorities.
“A new era in the strategic partnership between our companies begins today. Italdesign
becomes a permanent member of the global Volkswagen family,” Winterkorn said. “The
Volkswagen Group will be continuing its model initiative over the coming years and will
benefit from the capacity and competence of Italdesign. The company will therefore be
making an important contribution to our 2018 global growth strategy,” Winterkorn continued.

IDG was founded in Turin by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani in 1968. Both founders
are considered pioneers of modern Italian automobile design. Italdesign has also acquired a
reputation worldwide as a highly-competent development center. Today, the company
generates sales of over €100 million and has a workforce of some 800 employees.
“Every drop becomes the sea when it flows oceanward. In the last few days I ran into this
sentence while I was reading Sophie`s World by the Norwegian novelist Jostein Gaardner.
We are the drop. Becoming part of the Volkswagen Group means revaluating ourselves and
our strength. Entering Volkswagen means to open up a promising perspective for the
company,” Giorgetto Giugiaro said.

Source: italdesign.it

Audi / Volkswagen new network ECU interface for diagnostics and car controls.

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