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Audi R8 LMX illuminates the City of Light with lasers

Hard as it may seem to believe, the Audi R8 has been around for the better part of a decade. But does that make us love it any less? Hardly, especially not when Audi keeps rolling out ever-more enticing versions like the one you see here.
Debuting at the Paris Motor Show, the new Audi R8 LMX is the most powerful version of the supercar we've seen yet, thanks to a 5.2-liter V10 engine tuned to deliver 570 metric horsepower. That's 562 by our count, making it ten horses more potent than the R8 GT, or 37 more than the standard ten-cylinder R8 5.2 FSI - enough to propel the LMX to 62 in 3.4 seconds.
That's not all that sets the LMX apart, however, as Audi has fit it with cutting-edge laser-beam headlights. It comes exclusively as a coupe in Ara Blue with carbon fiber trim, special wheels, red brake calipers and a black leather cockpit. Only 99 examples will be made, and with those laser headlights banned in the US, your best chance of seeing one is in the gallery of live images above.

Audi inaugurates new R8 production line at Neckarsulm

Of all the factories which the Volkswagen Group operates around the world, the Audi plant in Neckarsulm may not be the very largest, but it is among the most diversified. That's where Audi builds versions of the A4, A5, A6, A8 and Q7 lines. It's also been home to the R8, but now the German automaker has moved supercar production to a new facility just a few miles down the road.
Back in August, Audi stopped production of the R8 at its main Neckarsulm site and moved it to the new Böllinger Höfe site in Heilbronn, restarting production just three weeks later. The new assembly line brings together various workshops that had been scattered about the Neckarsulm complex under one roof, and will surely make production of the next-generation R8 that much smoother.
The Böllinger Höfe facility is about a quarter the size of the main Neckarsulm plant, and will also house a small-scale production line - similar, we gather, to what Audi subsidiary Lamborghini recently built in Sant'Agata Bolognese - and a massive, state-of-the-art logistics center with capable of handling 4,500 containers each day.

Audi prices 2014 A8L TDI from $82,500*

During the Los Angeles Auto Show last November, Audi told us that it would be bringing four new diesel-powered models to the United States this year. The first to arrive is the 2014 A8L TDI you see here, and we've now learned that the big oil-sipper will be priced from $82,500, (*excluding $895 for destination).
The whole new range of diesel models will be powered by Audi's 3.0-liter TDI V6, good for 240 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque in this application. Of course, Quattro all-wheel drive is standard, and even in the big A8, the diesel grunt will be enough to propel the long-wheelbase flagship to 60 miles per hour in 6.4 seconds (almost a full second slower than the A8 3.0T we reviewed last fall). That said, the A8 TDI should still be a pretty engaging steer, and considering the fact that this thing will reportedly return fuel economy figures of up to 36 miles per gallon on the highway (24 in the city), a slightly slower launch time is well worth it. (The A8 3.0T tops out at 28 mpg highway.)
Elsewhere in the segment, Mercedes-Benz offers a diesel version of its S-Class flagship, retailing for $93,000 and good for fuel economy figures of 21/31 mpg city/highway. By comparison, the A8 TDI seems like a steal, and we'll be interested to see where the forthcoming BMW 7 Series diesel falls into the class of huge oil-burning barges.