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Audi pushing DOT to allow its sequential LED turn signals [w/videos]

Still in the process of trying to get its trick LED Matrix Beam headlights legalized in the US, Audi is now trying to get its front and rear sequential LED turn signals approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Just like its auto-dimming headlights, the sequentially illuminating turn signals don't meet NHTSA's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108.
The problem, according to Automotive News, is that the individual lighting elements are too small to meet current US safety regulations. The rule states that each lamp should be 22 square centimeters (8.6 square inches) and the whole lighted combined area must be 50 square centimeters (19.6 square inches). In the individual sequence, Audi's lights are much smaller than that. As for the Ford Mustang, which has had sequential turn signals since 2010, this system is legal since the first lens is large enough to meet the required size, so the other two lights really aren't even necessary.
It sounds like it could be some time before we see these turn signals on Audis in the US, which is a shame because in addition to their styling bebefuts, we think they're more effective at signaling the vehicle's intended direction of travel, and they do a better job of grabbing the eye. Scroll down to watch a pair of videos showing the headlights in action on the redesigned A8/S8 as well as the recently updated R8.

Audi sees room for TT family, including possible crossover and superlight models

With the third-generation Audi TT slated for a debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show in just a few weeks time, we've received some interesting news out of the United Kingdom. Speaking to the crew at Top Gear, Chief Engineer Ulrich Hackenberg made some interesting statements about the next TT, noting that he likes the idea of a production Allroad Shooting Brake.
"I can imagine the TT has much more potential than we have used up to now. That's why we did this Allroad [Shooting Brake] Concept. The trend is to smaller crossovers. So for example you do a crossover TT. It would have a big group of fans," Hackenberg told TG.
That makes it almost sound like Audi is trying to expand one popular, fashion-forward model into a wildly different niche, like Mini did moving from Hardtop to Countryman (or perhaps more appropriately, the Paceman). We'll reserve judgement, if only because the Allroad Shooting Brake was one of the more popular concepts at the Detroit Auto Show, making our Editors' Choice list.

Audi re-illuminates Sport Quattro with Laserlight concept for CES

Automakers typically spend months working on a concept car, then unveil it at a car show and move on to the next. But Audi has demonstrated a propensity at refining the same concepts and bringing them back for more. Just look at how many time Audi iterated its E-Tron concept, and how many diesel R8s it toyed with. It brought the Italdesign Parcour out of retirement and rechristened it the Audi Nanuk, and it's been doing the same with the Quattro concept for the past several years. The German automaker rolled out the first Quattro concept back in 2010, and followed up with the reborn Sport Quattro concept less than a year ago. And now it's preparing to unveil yet another.
Called the Sport Quattro Laserlight concept, this time it's not as radical a departure from the Sport Quattro concept as that was from the first Quattro concept. In fact, there's really only one vital difference. That'd be the laser headlights "that leave all previous systems in the dark," according to the press release below. The system uses matrix LEDs around the outside of the element as low beams, and lasers on the inside for high beams. Measured in mere microns, the laser diodes are significantly smaller than LEDs, while lighting up the road ahead for nearly half a kilometers (1,640 feet), providing twice the lighting range and three times the brightness of LED high beams.
Otherwise the concept car you see here and which Audi will display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week is essentially the same as the one it showed in Frankfurt this past September. It's got the same measurements, wearing the same CFRP bodywork, with the same interior and the same 700-horsepower hybrid powertrain, only the yellow exterior has been repainted Plasma Red and the black interior redone in a more low-key Slate Grey, as you can see from the high-res image gallery above.