2011 Audi A4 on 2040-cars

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China probing German automakers over spare parts

The Chinese market has proven to be a boon to German luxury automakers. However, the way that the companies have allegedly been controlling their supply of spare parts has begun to draw the ire of the nation's government. According to insiders speaking to Bloomberg, officials from the country's economic planning organization have opened a probe into Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and some Japanese carmakers over claimed price inflation and limiting supply.
Specifically, the investigation centers around two aspects of how the companies do business, according to Bloomberg. Investigators want to know whether the original equipment component makers are able to sell spare parts only to automaker-authorized dealers or if they are also available to independent shops. There is also the issue of whether the price markup on replacement pieces is too high. The tight controls could be partially explained by China's reputation for producing counterfeit parts.
Evidently, the investigators haven't checked parts prices at car dealers elsewhere in the world. At least in the US, paying more at the dealer for factory components just goes along with owning a vehicle. If evidence of price fixing is found, the companies could face fines the equivalent of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.

Watch two Audi RS4 Avants play Death Race with paintball

Nothing to see here, folks, except a 2013 Audi RS4 Avant weaponized with a high-caliber paintball canon. No, make that two of them, one black and one white, playing paintball in an abandoned aircraft hangar. At this point, there's probably not more to add than "Watch the video below" while we get on the horn to find out how to get this as a factory option. And the wagon itself, since that's not coming here, either...
But what's cooler than two high-powered Audi wagons with paintball guns and push-button firing in a video set to cheesy music from a bad eighties rip-off of Top Gun? One car can dump paint out of spigots under the rear bumper, the other has paintball grenades. And now we've really said enough. So watch the video, and the two behind-the-scenes vids, below.

2013 Audi RS5 Cabriolet

The Audi RS5 is a bit of an odd duck in the brand's US lineup. At the moment it is one of only two RS models - the other being the TT RS - atop a pyramid of A and higher-performing S models. It is not, however, the brand's flagship performance model - not even close - that space being occupied by variants of the R8 supercar, specifically the V10 and GT models, and upcoming 560-horsepower RS7.
The RS5 does, however, owe its beating heart to those ten-cylinder R8s, its own 4.2-liter V8 almost identical to those engines save for two fewer cylinders. Outside of the R8, then, the RS5 is the lone bastion of naturally aspirated V8 power in a brand that once happily shoved 4.2-liter V8s under any hood that they would fit. Today, not even the giant Q7 SUV offers a V8. Lastly, the RS5 is not new, except to us, having been on sale in Europe in coupe form the last couple of years.
While Europeans were able to enjoy the hardtop two-door without us, the RS5 Cabriolet is reaching both peoples around the same time: now. We reviewed the RS5 coupe just recently, and having spent some time with the tin-top model myself as well, here is my take on the droptop version of what I consider one of Audi's most interesting models.