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Audi Prologue concept drives itself to CES with updated powertrain

What's the point in crafting a one-off concept car if it only gets to stand in the spotlight at one show? That's what automakers have been asking themselves recently, and the answer has, generally speaking, been to repaint their show cars, give them a bit of new tech and put them back on center stage. And the latest to do so is Audi, which has given its Prologue concept a new lease on life. The Prologue was originally unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show less than two months ago, showing the way forward for the future of Audi design, in an elegant coupe form that looked ready to take on the Mercedes S-Class Coupe. We even got a chance to drive it around the streets of LA, and when we did, we marveled at the concept's advanced infotainment system that caters a range of personal preferences according to who's on board. "It's easy to see how this could even reach for chauffeured, or autonomously driven vehicles" in the future, we said at the time. And it turns out Audi was on the same page. At CES this year, Audi has brought back the Prologue concept, given it a darker coat of grey paint, a grey-tone interior (instead of the previous shades of brown and tan), a fresh set of wheels and equipped it with the autonomous tech the German automaker has been at the forefront of developing. Though other automakers have been fitting their self-driving prototypes with all-electric powertrains, Audi kept the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 in place – but fitted it with a hybrid assist to drive output up from an already prodigious 605 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque to an even more impressive 677 hp and 701 lb-ft, dropping the 0-62 time down to 3.5 seconds. Now that's the kind of "piloted driving" tech (as Audi calls it) that we can get behind.

X1, 3 Series power BMW back into global luxury autos sales lead

BMW managed to eke ahead of Audi for the global luxury sales crown in February. According to Bloomberg, BMW saw deliveries swell by 7 percent in February, besting the 3.2 percent jump enjoyed by Audi and giving BMW a 407-unit delivery lead over its rival last month. Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, continued to falter, with the brand selling some 37,229 fewer machines than BMW, whose factories are running at full capacity to keep up with demand. Models like the X1 (shown above) enjoyed a sales increase of 40 percent in February while the company's bread-and-butter 3 Series jumped by 26 percent.
Mercedes-Benz hopes to stem its continued market share loss with the addition of the entry-level CLA sedan to its portfolio in April. The company is set to roll out an updated version of its cash-cow E-Class at the same time, and a new-generation S-Class will follow along shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, the company is increasing production to meet demand for its A and B-Class models.

Audi builds 3-millionth A3

About a month after Volkswagen celebrated building its 30-millionth example of the Golf, Audi has announced that it has produced three million versions of its small hatchback, the closely related Audi A3. Probably more surprising than the fact that the A3 has moved in such big numbers since its global debut in 1996 is the fact that it has done so with relatively little support in the US, seeing marginal sales in the States since 2005.
The three-millionth A3 was a Sportback TDI model, but the lineup has grown this year to include a new sedan and S3 model, and the hybrid A3 E-tron is on the way. With these new models - especially the sedan in the US - we expect the A3 to continue to be a popular entrant in the premium small segment. Scroll down for Audi's official press release.