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Audi fires head of R&D, Wolfgang D"urheimer

According to Car and Driver, citing a report in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Audi has fired Wolfgang Dürheimer, the brand's head of research and development.
Dürheimer had originally signed on as Audi's R&D boss in September 2012. Prior to that, he had served as the head for both Bentley and Bugatti, and was formerly the development chief at Porsche (where he is credited with helping get the original Cayenne into production, a move that ushered a new era of profitability for the company). Dürheimer moved to Audi following a management shakeup within the Volkswagen Group in mid-2012.
During his time at Bentley, Dürheimer spearheaded the brand's efforts to launch an SUV. But at Audi, he reportedly quickly put a stop to costly projects such as the R8 E-Tron and the rotary range-extender engine for the A1 E-Tron. Furthermore, Car and Driver reports that Dürheimer shuffled the reporting structure within the brand's design department, and that VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn had apparently disagreed with him several times on the styling direction for the brand.

Audi moving ahead with Q1 crossover

Audi crossovers have been getting smaller with each passing year. What started with the Q7 has since downsized to the Q5, then to the Q3, and now reports coming in from Germany reaffirm speculation that Ingolstadt is preparing to go one more size down with a Q1.
The new pint-sized premium crossover would likely share the platform that underpins the Volkswagen Polo and Audi's own A1. Although the architecture has already been modified to accommodate all-wheel drive, Autobild suggests that the Q1 would be a front-drive-only affair, which might limit its appeal somewhat, but then most buyers probably wouldn't opt for all-wheel drive anyway.

New Audi Sport Quattro Laserlight geeks out with mad lumens

It's safe to say that, at least as far as automotive companies go, Audi's Sport Quattro Laserlight concept car is stealing the show here at CES in Las Vegas. The car's 700-horsepower hybrid powertrain and carbon-fiber bodywork mean that it would go like stink if it were ever allowed to turn a wheel, and the shapely coupe stance looks every inch the part of a modern-day super coupe, too. Better yet, the laser-powered headlamps that are the crowning glory of the concept car are actually slated for production at some point in the not-distant future.
We're talking about lasers here, folks. I don't know about you, but if you had told the 10-year-old, Real Genius-watching version of me that there'd one day be a car with lasers for headlights, well, I'd have wanted one of those things, pretty bad.
Anyway, Audi's lasers may not be able to ignite a giant pack of Jiffy Pop from space, but they are set to be the new standard for illumination on the road. The laser lights are nearly three times as bright and beam twice as far as current, top-notch LED high beams and were called "safer, sharper and more efficient" compared with existing technologies. That "safer" part works on two levels: the brighter beams offer far better visibility, naturally, but Audi also tells us that they won't dazzle oncoming drivers like traditional high beams will. That means you can drive with the maximum illumination at all times. Cool stuff, here at CES.