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Audi confirms all-electric SUV on the way

The electric crossover segment might become a hot market in just a few years. In addition to the rumors of an electric Jaguar F-Pace and obviously the Tesla Model X, Audi is now confirming an EV "sports activity vehicle" for early 2018. The Germany luxury brand even showed off a rendering (pictured above) of it during the company's annual press conference. Audi technical development boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg made the announcement during his portion of the conference but largely avoided hard details. What he said was tantalizing, though. The still un-named model was claimed to offer over 311 miles of driving range and ride on the brand's upcoming MLB 2 platform. Although, Auto Express suggests that it could be called the Q6 E-Tron. Dr. Hackenberg also promised a "new, very attractive design, which we are developing especially for the E-Tron range and for battery-electric vehicles." The rendering showcased a fairly squat crossover design with bold fender flares dominating the styling in profile. The images also suggested almost coupe-like proportions. Thankfully, the wait for more details about the model might not be too long. Dr. Hackenberg told Auto Express that Audi would have a presentation soon about the new model. He also hinted at a little of its tech by suggesting next-gen batteries offering 50 amp-hours and 90 kWh could be enough for sufficient range even in such a large model. With recent unveilings like the R8 E-Tron and Q7 E-Tron, Audi is rapidly moving towards offering more plugins and electric models. With this latest announcement, that expansion only appears to be accelerating. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management at AUDI AG for Technical Development Speech to the Annual Press Conference 2015 Ladies and Gentlemen, 2014 was the year of technical milestones, tests and records. Think of the sportiest piloted car in the world, the Audi RS 7 concept, which lapped the Hockenheimring racetrack extremely dynamically without a driver – at up to 240 km/h. Another mega-success was our 13th victory in the world's most important endurance race. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro with diesel-hybrid drive triumphed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 2014 – that was also 25 years of TDI technology. As strong evidence of the future viability of combustion engines, we showed the Audi RS 5 TDI concept – the fastest diesel ever timed on the Hockenheimring.

Audi tops Consumer Reports' brand rankings while Tesla leads domestics at eighth

Tesla supplanted General Motors' Buick division as the top-ranked US automaker in Consumer Reports annual brand rankings, though the electric-vehicle maker finished eighth among global automakers. Buick had finished atop CR's domestic car-brand list for three years before Tesla leapfrogged it. Scores were calculated from a combination of performance, owner satisfaction, and reliability. CR noted that Buick scored big on reliability but not so high on performance, while Tesla appeared to present the opposite case. Volkswagen's Audi division repeated as the best overall brand for the second straight year, beating out VW's Porsche unit, BMW, Toyota's Lexus division, and Subaru. Kia and Mazda followed those brands, while Honda finished ninth, between Tesla and Buick. Consumer Reports took results from 31 brands. Reliability issues related to the Toyota Tacoma helped drop that Japanese automaker out of the top 10. Take a look at CR's results for its Annual Brand Report Card here. That Tesla, Audi, and Porsche placed so high is topical, given some of the issues plaguing those automakers. Audi, Porsche, and their parent VW have been coping with the effects of the diesel-emissions scandal that broke back in 2015. The scandal has cost Europe's largest automaker billions of dollars, and forced VW to put a stop-sale on diesel-powered cars in the US in late 2015. And while the Tesla Model S improved from the "worse-than-average" label CR gave it in its 2015 Annual Auto Reliability Survey, the problematic falcon-wing doors on the Tesla Model X SUV pulled that model's reliability scores lower last year. Additionally, the Model X's climate-control system and door locks have also caused issues. Toyota and Lexus finished atop CR's reliability rankings last year. Related Video:

Audi S1 officially shows itself as 228-hp hot hatch [w/video]

We got the first leaked pics of the new Audi S1 Sportback five-door hot hatch yesterday, and as expected, Audi has unloaded the full details today, including confirmation of its S1 three-door sibling ahead of its debut at next month's Geneva Motor Show. The two cars are essentially identical aside from their door counts, and together, they represent a new entry-level rung into Audi's S car range.
The subcompact S1 is propelled by Audi's ubiquitous 2.0 TFSI four-cylinder, tuned here to produce 228 horsepower and 279 pound-feet with a six-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive. The potent combo accelerates the S1 to 62 miles per hour in 5.8 seconds (5.9 seconds for the Sportback) and on to a top speed of 155 mph. Fuel economy is rated at an average 33.6 miles per gallon (40.3 mpg UK) in the UK cycle. The S also gets a completely different four-link independent suspension to replace the less sophisticated torsion beam setup found in the standard A1.
Styling also gets a bump in aggressiveness that befit the S1's performance upgrades. In addition to a new body kit with a lower front air dam and 17-inch wheels, the S1 comes standard with Xenon headlights, LED taillights and two new available exterior colors ­- Vegas Yellow and Sepang Blue. The interior gets combination leather and cloth sport seats, piano black trim and a retractable 6.5-inch color infotainment display.