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ABT Sportsline coming to US, premiering AS6 at SEMA

ABT Sportsline, known as ABT Tuning from its founding in 1967 until 1991, is a German aftermarket parts and tuning company that has focused on enhancing Volkswagens and Audis since the VW GTI bowed in 1978 (in Europe, at least) and races competitively in DTM (Germany's touring car racing series). The company has kept its roots in Europe for all of these years, but will debut the AS6, based on the Audi A6, at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) in a couple weeks before opening up shop in Los Angeles in early 2014.
ABT focused on making the AS6 a balanced package by increasing engine output, tuning the suspension, giving it understated style and improving the brakes. Details are light, but the AS6's 3.0-liter diesel V6 makes 286 horsepower, a 41-hp increase over stock. Not paying attention yet? Torque jumps from 369 pound-feet to 500 lb-ft, endowing the Audi with a lot of much-appreciated low-rpm grunt. The springs are swapped out for a set of ABT units, and the body kit adds front and rear spoilers, side and rear skirts and carbon-fiber mirror covers. ABT's ER-C 20-inch wheels fit over new brakes.
We'll have more details on the car at SEMA, so stay tuned. But in the meantime, head on below to read the press release.

VW Group exploring F1 options, would likely wait until Ecclestone is out

The real hurdle is that Volkswagen overlord Ferdinand Piech doesn't like Bernie Ecclestone on a personal or professional level. Superbugs. They are antiobiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses, fiends that defy eradication no matter how much counteracting agent you throw at them. Reports that Audi is going to join Formula One? They are the superbugs of rumors; for five years they've been coursing through the blood of motorsport, and no amount of denials or Audi's continued non-presence in F1 has been able to make them go away. Not even a month ago we contracted another bout of it, courtesy of Auto Express, citing sources who said Audi would leave endurance racing and DTM - handing Le Mans over to Porsche, instead of the other way around - and buy either Red Bull or Toro Rosso for an entry in 2016 with an in-house powerplant. Within 24 hours of that story, Audi Sport sent the tweet, "Audi in F1? There rumors keep appearing with regularity since years. It's pure speculation again this time and without any foundation." Now, few things are impossible in F1, but lining up on the grid in 2016 is not far away from needing to be ready tomorrow, in F1 terms, which is why these announcements come long in advance. Honda, you'll recall, gave us almost two years' notice of its F1 reunion and Porsche gave us three years notice about Le Mans. A brand-new report in the BBC says that Audi is using new hire and ex-Ferrari technical director Stefano Domenicali to lead a feasibility study into an F1 program. According to that story, the real hurdle to the foray, however, is that Volkswagen Group overlord Ferdinand Piech doesn't like F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone on a personal or professional level, so one of them would need to leave his position before Audi could say yes, feasibility be damned. Since we're talking about two men who define professional longevity, that day might not come soon. The BBC story goes on to say that Martin Winterkorn, head of the VW Group management board, would like to see the group in F1, and that if it happened it would be with a "car designed and made in Germany." Ladies and gentlemen, you know where to file this one...

Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index

A couple weeks ago, J.D. Power released its latest Initial Quality Study, which gave high marks to Porsche, Hyundai and General Motors, with the latter earning more individual IQS awards than any other manufacturer. Now, it's Strategic Vision's turn, and it's doling out its praise not to Porsche, but to Tesla, which wasn't even included in the JD Power IQS.
The Model S was named the best vehicle overall in total quality, while Porsche's corporate brother and endurance-racing rival, Audi, was named the best premium brand, alongside Jaguar. Strategic Vision cited the Q5 and the ancient Q7 for individual segment awards, as well as the A5, which was a mere point off the top of its segment. SV also handed out compliments for the Audi's interior work. The win for the German brand is a nice improvement over its IQS score, with which it landed above the industry average, but solidly mid-pack.
Jaguar was without a segment winner, although SV did say that the Indian-owned English brand had a number of vehicles very near the top of their segments. This is the second significant win for Jag in two weeks, after it finished second overall on the JD Power IQS a few weeks ago.