2004 Blue Audi A4 Convertible, Automatic, 131,000 Miles on 2040-cars

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GM, Audi, Jaguar halt Russian sales amidst ruble's collapse

The value of Russia's ruble currency has sunk like a stone tossed in the Volga for much of the year, losing over 40 percent of its worth since June. The change is having bizarre effects on the auto industry there and leaving some automakers scrambling to adjust. According to Bloomberg, Russians are buying up luxury goods including automobiles at the moment to have a physical investment in case the ruble sinks further. However, with the money worth so little, the companies aren't making much from these transactions. Things are so dire that several automakers are temporarily ending deliveries until the situation stabilizes. According to Bloomberg, General Motors stopped sales on December 16 with no set date to start again. Audi did the same thing but with the intention to resume once it has adjusted model pricing. Jaguar Land Rover terminated business until December 19 to see how things changed. Toyota is increasing its pricing, as well, but keeping business open at the same time. Some automakers have subtly been reacting to the slumping Russian auto market all year. The moves have included Volkswagen cutting production by 30,000 units from its factory in Kaluga. Ford also got rid of 950 workers from two plants due to low demand. Some analysts have even speculated that the contracting industry and possibility of lower import duties into the country could cause companies to end their manufacturing in Russia completely.

Audi unveils its Doberhuahua Super Bowl commercial

With Super Bowl Sunday less than a week away, this week is going to be dominated by anything and everything football related. That includes advertising and the auto industry, as some of the biggest players prepare to launch multi-million-dollar spots hawking their latest and greatest products.
A veteran of Super Bowl ads, Audi's history has been rather checkered, ranging from controversial to funny to Jason Statham. We aren't entirely sure where to place this year's ad. The German brand has released a pair of teaser videos on the so-called Doberhuahua, a crossbreed of a Doberman Pinscher and a Chihuahua. Now, we have the full spot.
We get the message Audi is going for - compromise is bad - but delivering it via a slobbery, mutant dog strikes us as trying a bit too hard to be funny. Take a look below and let us know what you think of the Audi's Doberhuahua spot. And of course, you'll be able to see the new ad come Sunday, when it airs during the Super Bowl.

Audi SQ7 spied for the first time

Audi isn't really hiding that its engineers are hard at work on a high-performance version of the latest Q7. However, we haven't seen any of the fruits of this labor, until we got these fresh spy shots of the SQ7. With seemingly no camouflage on the car, these photos might give a very good idea of what to expect from Audi's speedy SUV. One big tip-off of the model's performance aspirations is the redesign of the front end's lower portion. New ducts beside the foglights send cool air to what appear to be intercoolers. This test model rides on a very cool-looking set of basket-weave style wheels, and the big, cross-drilled brakes are easy to spot behind them. At the rear, the quad exhaust tips also signal something special. Our spies also snapped some shots of the interior. If there is any question about whether this is the SQ7, these photos certainly assuage it. The badging is plain as day on the gauges, but at this point the changes appear to be fairly minimal beyond that. We know the SQ7 is going to get more power, but the method isn't officially confirmed yet. Although, Audi technical boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg said bluntly last year that it would use an electrically turbocharged engine, possibly an evolution of the V6 diesel in the RS5 TDI Concept. Hackenberg also suggested that the SQ7 would go on sale in 2016. Though, the actual debut might come earlier. Regardless, the tweaks should make the SUV quite a performer. Even on the standard version, it weighs 700 pounds less than the previous generation, while remaining about the same size.