R15 TDI to Debut In March: Artists Conception of R15

Audi's new R15 TDI, successor to the R10 TDI, will make its race debut at Sebring in March.

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring has long seen debuts of the most successful sports cars in endurance racing.

The 57th edition - presented by Fresh from Florida on March 21, 2009 - will be no different as Audi will race its new R15 TDI prototype for the first time.

The Sebring 12 Hours, America's most demanding sports car race, also saw the first race for the Audi R8R in 1999 (which led to the highly successful R8 the next season) and the Audi R10 TDI in 2006.

The latter was the first diesel-powered sports car to win at Sebring, and it won the first of its three straight 24 Hours of Le Mans victories only months later. Audi has won Le Mans nine times overall.

"It was clear to us that we must develop a new car if we wanted to continue to be successful in Le Mans," explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.

"The Audi R15 TDI is the result. The step from R10 to R15 is significantly larger than it was from the R8 to the R10."

The Audi R15 TDI differs significantly from its predecessor, the R10 TDI, at first glance and features many technically innovative details with which Audi aims to maintain its supremacy in Le Mans.

The new prototype is equipped with a smaller, lighter and even more efficient TDI engine. During the chassis and aerodynamic development Audi Sport engineers followed similar routes to those exhibited on the current Audi A4 DTM. Only the basic concept was carried over from the predecessor model: The R15 TDI is a closed-topped cockpit this time around. Audi does not wish to release any further details at this time. The first private tests with the new Le Mans sports car are scheduled for later this year.

The R15 TDI will only be presented to the public immediately before its race debut at Sebring. Audi also expects to enter three of the cars at Le Mans in June.

Source:DesignTaxi

Audi halts Hungary production line

Audi, one of Hungary's largest exporters, is suspending production at its Győr-based plant for a month in mid-December, as there is no demand for convertibles in the winter. No one will be made redundant at the factory, the company stressed. According to news portal index.hu more than 5,000 people lost their jobs to the crisis in Hungary so far and the meter is ticking.

Audi Hungaria will also halt engine production for two but possibly for four weeks around Christmas, company officials told the evening news programme of commercial TV channel TV2 on Saturday. Audi produces TT and TT Roadster sports cars and the A3 model in Hungary.

The plant suspends production briefly every Christmas, they company stressed, adding that this would not entail layoffs this year either. Local news agency MTI said Audi would still produce more than 60,000 cars this year at its Győr (northwest Hungary) unit, up from 56,000 last year, while engine output would be flat at 1.9 million units.

Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai said thousands of people would lose their jobs in the coming weeks, but the cabinet would grant specific support for small and medium-sized enterprises to retain positions and create new ones. Bajnai estimates that 1,760 employees will be axed in the immediate future, following 1,400 layoffs announced last week. He sees this process gather pace and forecasts no change in this respect in the near future.

The financial crisis left a scar on the car industry. Sales are going sharply down and an increasing number of producers make announcements of cutting back or suspending production, simply because there is no demand for their produce.

Source:Portfolio Hu

Porsche vs VW Round:2 FIGHT!!

Volkswagen's supervisory board decided on Friday to retain for now a special committee that limits top shareholder Porsche's power, rebuffing the sports car maker.

Porsche has been fighting for ways to gain more control over Volkswagen, in which it aims to have a majority stake by the end of next year, but other shareholders and labour leaders have been pushing to limit its decision-making power. The state of Lower Saxony has said it would use its blocking minority to fight Porsche's plans to hike its stake and gain access to Volkswagen's cash flows.

Labour representatives forced Porsche to seek board approval from the special committee each time it planned a cooperation with VW's luxury unit Audi -- a potential rival to Porsche's own business.The move to keep the committee came as a surprise on Friday, since Porsche less than a month ago said Volkswagen's chairman Ferdinand Piech would table a motion to dissolve the committee.

Volkswagen said the state of Lower Saxony and Porsche had agreed with VW's labour representatives and its supervisory board to "optimise" the committee. It did not say whether it was planning specific measures. Several people familiar with the matter said that the company aimed to merge two separate committees in a compromise.

One of the committees, which had been demanded by labour representatives, approves planned cooperation with Audi ahead of time, giving labour leaders a chance to block plans early on. The second one looks into the cooperation after the fact.

Volkswagen shares ended up 4.3 percent at 365.00 euros, while Porsche shares were down 2.1 percent at 46.18 euros.

Source:Reuters

Audi V6 turbo diesel powers Porsche Cayenne

The Porsche Cayenne will have a diesel option now, via Audis 3.0 litre 240hp/405.7 lbs-ft turbo V6 diesel. It will also be available to the US market in the new A4 & Q7 platforms next year.

Current Audi vs VW stock on DAX

Audi DAX index pricing

VW DAX index pricing

Audi Sales increase VW Drops in Europe

Bloomberg is reporting VW sales have slumped 7.6% while the Audi brand's deliveries rose 3.3%. Keep in mind VW is Europes largest carmaker, with the credit crisis spreading through the US & Europe, european car sales have plunged 15 percent in October, the sixth consecutive monthly decline, as credit-market turmoil and an economic slowdown hurt demand.

Industrywide car sales in western Europe, including the 15 countries that were members of the EU before May 2004 plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, slid 16 percent in October to 1.03 million vehicles, led by drops of 86 percent in Iceland and 55 percent in Ireland. Deliveries in the 10 eastern European nations that have joined the EU since 2004 declined 3.2 percent to 99,076 units. By contrast, sales in those countries posted a 7.8 percent increase in September.

GM's sales in Europe fell 25 percent to 94,479 vehicles, with the Saab brand reporting a 28 percent plunge. The Detroit- based carmaker said Nov. 7 it may run short of cash by the end of the year unless the market improves or it raises more capital.

Registrations in Europe by Toyota slumped 24 percent to 54,612 cars. Asia's largest carmaker, leading GM in global auto sales this year, posted a 69 percent plunge in quarterly net income on Nov. 6. Deliveries of its Lexus brand fell 32 percent.

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Audi to show off new Safe/Green Technology

Audi will have demonstrations at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems meeting in NY this week. Showing off cutting-edge emissions reduction technology from its Audi Clean Air initiative. The group is working to create connected, intelligent vehicles that are capable of collaborating with their users and with each other to preserve the environment.
Environmentally friendly navigation lets drivers choose the most energy efficient route.
Smart engines use traffic information and advanced topography to consume less fuel. On-board cameras allow vehicles to act as smart moving traffic nodes and share traffic information with other traffic nodes and data sources. And vibration energy harvesting provides a clean energy source to power vehicle sensors.

VW "not happy" with Audi R4 project

After a heated dispute between the VW chairman, and former Audi/Porsche engineering boss, Ferdinand Piech and his cousin Wolfgang over a clause the Wolfsburg firm tried to instate to prevent a formal collaboration between Audi and Porsche without VW’s consent, things appear to have concluded amicably. This means a joint-effort between the two companies is not impossible.

Porsche certainly seems keen to re-establish its ties with Audi, if a recent interview with Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking is anything to go by. Wiedeking said he was puzzled that Audi had not continued working with Porsche after the success of the RS2, and that such a project was something Porsche would have been keen to continue.