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Audi eyes factory-backed Formula E racecar for 2017/2018 season

Audi is going all-in into the world of electric vehicles, both on and off the race track. After announcing plans to create a Tesla-fighting all-electric car, the German automaker set its sights onto increasing its involvement in Formula E. Audi recently announced plans to further its involvement with the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport Formula E Team for the 2016 and 2017 season. In addition to furthering its involvement with the ABT Team, the automaker planned to introduce its own factory-backed car for the 2017 and 2018 season. The plan to enter Formula E, the first fully-electric racing series, reveals just how serious Audi is about electric cars. Audi to become involved in #FormulaE #LeagueofPerformance pic.twitter.com/AeJf534UnH — Audi Sport (@audisport) September 2, 2016 Last year, Audi announced that it wanted one out of every four vehicles in its lineup to have a plug by 2025. Entering Formula E would help Audi engineer electric components for its road-going vehicles. Audi's current involvement with the ABT Team is on a technical basis as the Formula E team narrowly missed out on titles in two seasons in the all-electric series. For the 2016/2017 season, Team ABT will benefit from technical and financial input from Audi, before the automaker unveils its own factory team. Audi will join other automakers like Jaguar, Mahindra, Renault, and Faraday Future on the grid in Formula E's fourth season. Jaguar recently entered the Formula E scene with a race car of its own for the third season of the all-electric series, which will start on October 9 in Hong Kong. Related Video: News Source: Formula EImage Credit: Daniel Abt / Twitter Green Motorsports Audi Electric Racing Vehicles Special and Limited Editions Performance Formula E abt

BMW can't build enough M3 wagons, but the U.S. won't see any

Why, oh why, won’t the automobile companies that supposedly cater to Americans give us a viable touring wagon? Seems that BMW is one manufacturer thatÂ’s aware of the question, but skirts the answer. WhatÂ’s more frustrating is that the German company, and others, have for years been off-handedly tossing out the same refrain: “Maybe weÂ’ll bring a wagon back to the U.S.” Not. All the more irritating then is the news that the Bavarians have increased production in Munich of its M3 Touring longroof version to keep up with demand. The information comes via Bimmer Today, which spoke with BMW M CEO Frank van Meel. He said that the company was surprised by the amount of interest in the M3 Touring since its debut during last year's Goodwood Festival of Speed. In fact, he said, the company had to facilitate a production ramp-up within its Munich facility. Despite that increased production, the backlog of orders means that customers are still on wait lists, he said. Last year, van Peel admitted that demand for M-wagons in the U.S. has been steadily increasing, and exporting a touring example was a concept BMW was "taking into consideration.” Crossovers certainly are this decadeÂ’s version of the wagon, which leaves American enthusiasts will few choices: only expensive versions from Audi, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz and a couple of others. Details that were announced last year — a few months before the wagon went into production for sale in Europe, the U.K. and elsewhere — noted that the M3 Touring was only available in Competition spec with xDrive all-wheel drive and a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six with 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. Pricing started at GBP80,550 ($105,000 U.S.) More data on the M3Â’s intro here. Related video:

'Rich Kid of Instagram' victim of supercar arsonists

A 19-year-old in the UK is smarting after the possibility that his prolific social media use may be at the heart of four family-owned supercars going up in flames in barely a week. Aleem Iqbal has thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram paying attention to his frequent posts about the high-priced cars he's driving. He's even been featured on the Tumblr page Rich Kids of Instagram. It appears that some people might not be so smitten with him, though.
According to his Twitter profile, Iqbal owns Platinum Executive Travel, a luxury car rental company in the England, and UK newspaper The Telegraph claims the company is also owned by Iqbal's father. On June 6, cameras caught three hooded men setting fire to a Lamborghini Aventador Roadster leased by the company for a wedding. A few days later, two Audi R8 Spyders and a Bentley Continental Flying Spur from Platinum also got the torch, and two men were caught on camera setting the blaze. Nobody was hurt in either of the attacks, and the Aventador appeared to be repairable with the fire causing most damage to the passenger seat and dashboard. Police are still investigating both of the crimes.
According to The Telegraph, Iqbal believes that the arsons could have stemmed from jealousy towards him and his family's business. Regardless, setting fire to a bunch of cars that are likely insured isn't a great way to show displeasure.