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Audi wiring cars with cameras to see how ferret-like creatures tear them apart

In this German-language video, we see a batch of Audi engineers wiring up an A3 Cabriolet with a network of small cameras. The goal? To help identify where and how stone martens - small, ferret-like animals - attack cars. The idea is to observe the animals' behavior around the vehicles, see where they go, what they chew on, and work to develop solutions.
So why go to all this trouble? Cars and trucks are easily the single-most complex consumer good, and they're subject to the widest variety of conditions, regulations and usage cases that one could possibly imagine. They also come with very high consumer expectations for reliability. Thus, it's up to automakers to vet their vehicles for just about every possible scenario and threat - including weasels. And if that means Audi has to go hire Walter Simbeck, animal trainer to the stars, and string up a bunch of GoPros on an A3, well, they're game.
In speaking with Autoblog, Mark Dahncke, senior product manager at Audi of America said it best:

New Audi Sport Quattro Laserlight geeks out with mad lumens

It's safe to say that, at least as far as automotive companies go, Audi's Sport Quattro Laserlight concept car is stealing the show here at CES in Las Vegas. The car's 700-horsepower hybrid powertrain and carbon-fiber bodywork mean that it would go like stink if it were ever allowed to turn a wheel, and the shapely coupe stance looks every inch the part of a modern-day super coupe, too. Better yet, the laser-powered headlamps that are the crowning glory of the concept car are actually slated for production at some point in the not-distant future.
We're talking about lasers here, folks. I don't know about you, but if you had told the 10-year-old, Real Genius-watching version of me that there'd one day be a car with lasers for headlights, well, I'd have wanted one of those things, pretty bad.
Anyway, Audi's lasers may not be able to ignite a giant pack of Jiffy Pop from space, but they are set to be the new standard for illumination on the road. The laser lights are nearly three times as bright and beam twice as far as current, top-notch LED high beams and were called "safer, sharper and more efficient" compared with existing technologies. That "safer" part works on two levels: the brighter beams offer far better visibility, naturally, but Audi also tells us that they won't dazzle oncoming drivers like traditional high beams will. That means you can drive with the maximum illumination at all times. Cool stuff, here at CES.

2015 Audi A3 Sedan priced from $29,900* [w/video]

One year after the all-new Audi A3 bowed in Europe, the US finally will get the 2015 A3 sedan in 2014, and the German automaker announced yesterday that it's priced from $29,900 (*not including destination, and we've reached out to Audi asking for the price of delivery). A bit later in 2014, the A3 Cabriolet will be released along with the S3 sedan. The A3 Sportback will be a 2015 model, though it will only be offered as a gasoline-electric hybrid. Prices weren't given for those models and, sadly, the three-door hatch isn't slated for US consumption.
The A3 sedan will be offered with three engine choices, all of them featuring direct-injection, turbocharging and four cylinders: a 1.8-liter TFSI, 2.0-liter TFSI and 2.0-liter TDI - that last one's a diesel. If you count the S3 sedan, that's another engine in the lineup - a 296-horsepower version of the 2.0 TFSI.
As we were told at the 2014 A3's "unofficial" world debut in New York City earlier this year, Audi says US customers won't get the option of a six-speed manual transmission, as the Europeans do. All engines will be mated exclusively to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission.