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2015 Audi Q7 spotted with a blurry first look

Here's the good news: we finally have visual evidence of the upcoming and all-new 2015 Audi Q7 luxury SUV. A set of photographs show that Audi has been putting the SUV through its paces, with an eye towards an on-sale date sometime late next year.
The bad news is that it was not one of our usual clear-lensed spy photographers that captured these first images, but rather a sycophantic follower of our friends at CarPix. The resulting images are a lot lower resolution than we've come to expect, and there are far fewer angles from which to judge the car.
Still, we can make out the nose of the new Q7 is a bit flatter and wider than the rounded affair of the current car, and wears similar swoopy LED headlights as are found in the rest of the Audi range. We expect the overall dimensions of the 2015 Q7 to stay about the same as the existing model, but rumor has it that the SUV could be 800 to 900 pounds lighter in the next generation.

Audi A3 named 2014 World Car of the Year

As usual, the second press day of the New York Auto Show was kicked off by the World Car of the Year Awards. Rather than fluff things up, we'll cut right to the chase: top honors go to the brand-new Audi A3, which bested the Mazda3 and BMW 4 Series for the all-important award.
Of course, the wonderful thing about the World Car awards is that there isn't just one big announcement - other honors are given out for specific categories. Here are the other winners from this year's ceremony:
World Green Car of the Year: BMW i3

VW makes $23K on every Porsche sold, more than Bentley or Lamborghini

It's a good time to be in the luxury car business. In Volkswagen Group's financial report for the 2013 fiscal year, it is revealed that that Porsche enjoyed an operating margin of 18 percent. That means the Stuttgart brand made on average about $23,200 per car sold, according to BusinessWeek. Bentley wasn't far behind, and Audi (which was combined with Lamborghini) posted a 10.1 percent margin. This compares to only around 2.9 percent for the Volkswagen brand.
"Luxury brands are on fire," said Dave Sullivan, an industry analyst at AutoPacific. He said that the average profit margin is between six and eight percent. Brands like Porsche and Bentley have the benefit of competing in rarefied markets. Buyers looking at one their vehicles have fewer models to shop against and don't care as much about price. They can also charge more for options, which further boosts income, according to BusinessWeek.
In a way, we should be more impressed by the continued success from Audi. Its models generally have direct competitors in every segment from the other premium automakers. Plus, their buyers aren't the captains of industry who are shopping for a Bentley. Still, the Four Rings is leading rivals in sales so far this year.