2013 Volkswagen Passat Se on 2040-cars

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Audi investing $30.3 billion through 2018 for product expansion

How does Audi plan to reach two million units in annual sales and pay for the 11 new models it's adding to its lineup - an expansion that may include models named SQ2, Q9 and F-Tron? By increasing its investment to 22 billion euros ($30.3 billion US) between now and 2018. That figure represents an increase of about 500 million euros over the previously planned outlay, according to a report by Automotive News, and that could be due to Audi wishing to goad the momentum that pushed it to 1.5 million annual sales two years ahead of schedule.
It's also about staving off the challenges from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Now that BMW has been able to turn some of its attention away from its "i" series of Megacity cars, it will reportedly spend more than planned in 2014 as it continues the rollout of ten all-new vehicles and 15 new-generation vehicles through the end of next year. Mercedes, having been dropped to third in the sales race, is preparing to add 13 new cars over the next six years.
Audi's money is going into technology, into product like the next-generation TT and the Q1 and production expansions and upgrades all over the world. The expenditure represents just under a fourth of Volkswagen's 84.2 billion-euro ($115.7 US) outlay devoted to taking the number-one global automaker title away from General Motors and Toyota by 2018.

VW XL1 priced at $169,000 in UK, only 30 will be sold there

Volkswagen has announced the pricing of its XL1 diesel plug-in hybrid for the UK, according to Car magazine. The small, uber-efficient two-seater will start at GBP98,515, or roughly $168,930 at current exchange rates. Additionally, only 30 units of the XL1 will be sold throughout the UK, giving it a rareness appropriate for its lofty price. It's nice to finally be able to stop speculating about the XL1's price. Even as recently as the first XL1 delivery in Germany, we were still mostly in the dark concerning the cost of the slippery VW. But is the price worth it, especially considering that the much sportier BMW i8 can be had for just a bit more (GBP99,895, or $171,460, in the UK)? Car seems to think so, noting that the XL1 is an eco and technology pioneer, and saying that its cost of ownership is "merely the price of progress." Plus, that includes the bragging rights of owning the world's most fuel-efficient car. The XL1's two-cylinder turbo-diesel engine displaces just eight-tenths of a liter and produces 47 horsepower. The internal combustion engine operates alongside a 26-horsepower electric motor powered by a 5.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Despite its 2.64-gallon fuel tank, the XL1 has a maximum driving range of over 700 miles thanks to a 261-mpg rating (based on the European cycle). Unfortunately, we won't be able to do any bladder-busting, nonstop Chicago to DC road trips any time soon, as VW has no plans to bring the XL1 to North America - not that one would relish the experience of dicing it up with America's massive trucks and SUVs. If you want to drive one, you'll have to go to Europe, and you'd better have a very large piggy bank you're prepared to break open.

Jalopnik and Consumer Reports see who can pull off the best snow drift

The weather throughout much of the United States is pretty awful at the moment with some combination of extremely low temperatures, inches of snow and maybe some ice underneath it all. The folks at Jalopnik and Consumer Reports are making the absolute best out of a difficult situation by heading to CR's snow-covered test track and attempting to make the longest drift in a quartet of very different performance vehicles. Jalopnik brought along a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Wagon, a Subaru WRX STI, a BMW 228i and a 1973 Volkswagen Baja Bug (heck yeah!) for the challenge. Also, the track was perfect for this group, with a mix of packed snow in places and still a few inches of unsullied powder in spots too. Ostensibly the goal was to get the tail to step out through a particular corner, but in reality this was more about having hilarious fun in the snow with fast cars. The result just looks like the best time humanly possible in this weather.