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Tuner may sue Monaco hotel for damage caused by valet's injury

It's relatively common to hear about unethical valets taking a joyride and wrecking high-performance cars. However, a recent 'accident' in Monaco might be one of the weirdest cases ever. Of course, now the lawyers may get involved.
Andreas Belzek, owner of tuning firm Prior Design, was driving his highly modified, black with gold pinstripes, widebody Audi R8 (pictured above) to the Hotel de Paris in the famously rich city on the shores of the Mediterranean. Upon arriving, he was going to check in but wanted to park the supercar himself, which was against the hotel's rules. He protested to the valet but eventually gave in and handed over the keys. Then the problems began.
The Audi barely moved before the valet herniated a disk in his back and couldn't leave the car. The police and paramedics arrived to the scene, which had to be quite a crowd in a city as tiny as Monaco. To get the guy out, the rescue crew had to hook him to a special hoist and carry him out, according to Germany's Focus Online. Belzek claims the efforts to save the man caused roughly 10,000 euros ($13,622) in damage to the car's carbon fiber, Alcantara and Nappa leather interior.

Audi RS7 prototype is world's sportiest self-driving car [w/video]

Audi may not be the only automaker out there toying with self-driving automobile technology, but it is arguably the fastest of them. A few years back, it raced unleashed a driverless TTS on the Bonneville Salt Flats, then sent it up Pikes Peak and around Thunderhill. But now it's taking things a step further with the vehicle you see here.
This RS7 Sportback has been fitted with steering, brakes, throttle and transmission hooked up to a computer system that combines GPS, high-frequency radio signals and 3D imaging camera to drive the vehicle autonomously not just in slow-paced, stop-and-go traffic, but around the track at the same pace a professional racing driver would push it: full throttle on the straights, full braking before the corner and 1.1-g of cornering force.
As promised, Audi plans to unleash the self-driving RS7 - which it calls "the sportiest piloted driving car in the world" - at Hockenheim next weekend prior to the DTM season finale, where it is anticipated to pull a 2:10 lap time. The next stage will be to set it lose on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, all 154 turns and 13 miles of it, which ought to pose a heck of a challenge to the engineers from Ingolstadt. In the meantime you can scope it out in the high-res image gallery above and the second teaser video below.

KBB: VW diesel prices have dropped 16%

There are a lot of post-scandal theories and metrics concerning Volkswagen's performance during the diesel emissions scandal, although none of them has created a clear picture of where things are headed. Kelley Blue Book has a few more to add to the spreadsheet, though, finding that average auction prices for VW diesels and Internet shoppers perusing them have both gone down in the past four weeks on KBB.com. Auction prices on the site are down an average of 16 percent for VW oil burners, which compares to a decline of 2.9 percent for gas-powered VWs. Shoppers are still on the lookout, though, even if the numbers are slightly reduced. Overall, "new-car shopping activity" for the small-capacity VW diesel offerings is down 2.4 percent, a number held partly in check by searches for the Jetta SportWagen being up by 3.7 percent. Shoppers are looking harder at the Audi A3 diesel, too, its activity up 1.6 percent. The Golf, though, is down 3.7 percent and the Golf SportWagen down 6.2 percent. Shoppers leaving the diesel fold aren't necessarily going for high-mileage options, either, KBB saying that the Ford Fusion and Honda Civic are quick alternatives to the Jetta TDI, while the Mercedes CLA and BMW 2 Series are getting new looks from those interested in the Audi A3 diesel. You can read the full release from KBB below. VOLKSWAGEN DIESEL VEHICLE PRICES DECLINE NEARLY 16 PERCENT, ACCORDING TO KELLEY BLUE BOOK DATA New-Car Shopping Activity Also Impacted by Recent Emissions Issue IRVINE, Calif., October 21, 2015 – Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com, the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry, today reports that average auction prices, along with new-car shopping activity on KBB.com, for Volkswagen diesel vehicles have declined four weeks after the diesel emissions issue was announced. The average auction price for Volkswagen diesel models dropped by nearly 16 percent since the news broke of the emissions crisis.[1] The average auction price for the brand's gasoline-powered vehicles declined by 2.9 percent.1 On KBB.com, Volkswagen new-car shopping activity for affected TDI models has decreased on average by 2.4 percent. "According to Kelley Blue Book Field Analysts, some auctions are still holding off on selling the affected Volkswagen inventory," said Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book.