2009 Audi Q5 3.2 Premium Plus Quattro on 2040-cars

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Audi claims World Endurance Championship at Fuji

It's been a successful racing season for Audi so far this year. After claiming the drivers' title in the DTM series, the German automaker has successfully defended both its titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The decision came after heavy rain ended the 6 Hours of Fuji after only 16 laps, virtually the entire race having been run behind the safety car. Although Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima won the race for Toyota - the Japanese automaker's first this season - the second-place finish achieved by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval propelled Audi Sport Team Joest out of its challengers' reach.
While the actual drivers' title still remains in contention, the battle now comes down exclusively to the two leading Audi trios: McNish, Kristensen and Duval hold the lead with 147 points ahead of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer, who hold 106.25 points in the standings. Either way, Audi will be awarded both the drivers' and manufacturers' titles in the series with two races still to go in Shanghai and Bahrain.

Audi on Demand pilot program launches in San Francisco

Customers eager to drive a new Audi but unwilling or unable to plunk down the purchase price for one will be intrigued by the launch of the new Audi on Demand program. Initially being rolled out in San Francisco, Audi on Demand is based around an iPhone app that allows clients to order up a new Audi of their choosing on a day-by-day basis for up to 28 days in a row. Order an Audi through the app and a "personal concierge" will deliver the car anywhere in the city – curbside, driveway, parking lot, office building... pretty much anywhere the customer chooses. The concierge will even help set up the audio and navigation systems to the customer's preferences. And if the customer isn't there to receive the vehicle in person, he or she can simply unlock it through the app, start it up and drive off. The service is being made available on a broad range of Audi models, from the A4 all the way up to the R8. Customers can even specify a child seat or (on an Allroad or Q5) a ski or bike rack, and are guaranteed that the vehicle they select will be the one they get, right down to the color and trim. Though being launched at first only in San Francisco, Audi says it will roll out the program in other American cities "in the coming years." In announcing the program, Audi also revealed that it's planning to launch Audi at Home as well, a "micro-sharing" service that will allow residents of select condo complexes to share a fleet of Audis as well. These, of course, are just the latest smartphone-enabled conveniences being introduced by the German automaker, following its collaboration with Amazon and DHL for in-trunk delivery. Related Video: Audi launches innovative mobility program: Audi on demand April 27, 2015 | SAN FRANCISCO, California - Audi on demand launches beta program in San Francisco - Innovative premium service allows customers to choose their preferred Audi model via iPhone app - Personal concierge delivers vehicle to a San Francisco location of customer's choosing Audi today introduced Audi on demand, an innovative mobility program that gives customers a new way to experience the Audi brand and its range of vehicles at the touch of a button. With Audi on demand, customers can reserve an Audi by the day for up to 28 days. The premium service is currently available in San Francisco as part of a beta program and will be rolled out across additional U.S. cities in the coming years.

Porsche would have entered F1 if Audi had blocked its Le Mans program

Go back a few years and you may have heard rumors of Porsche heading into Formula One. That never came to pass - or at least, it hasn't yet - but that doesn't mean that it wasn't close to happening. That's how committed to returning to top-level motorsport competition Porsche has become recently.
Autosport reports that just as Porsche was merging fully into the Volkswagen Group, Zuffenhausen was weighing its options for a factory racing program. Le Mans was its favorite, which makes sense, as it remains far and away the most successful constructor in the history of the famous endurance race. But the strategists at Porsche were worried that its new corporate overlords at Volkswagen wouldn't support two LMP1 programs and would favor Audi, which has positively dominated the modern era of endurance racing, coming second only to Porsche in the number of Le Mans victories it has scored to date.
Porsche's Plan B was reportedly to head into Formula One, although it isn't clear if the German automaker was intent on starting its own team, buying an existing one or merely providing engines to other teams. Porsche fielded its own cars in F1 in the late 1950s and early 60s, and returned as an engine supplier with TAG to power McLaren in the 1980s, powering Niki Lauda and Alain Prost to the World Championship in 1984 and 1985.