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Toyota, Lexus dominate KBB's Best Resale Value Awards

Toyota and Lexus stormed the 2014 Kelley Blue Book Best Resale Value Awards, winning a combined 18 categories including best brand and best luxury brand. This marks the third year in a row that both automakers have won the Brand and Luxury Brand resale value awards. In all, Toyota won 11 categories and Lexus won seven.
Honda made a good showing, as well, winning two segments (Accord Plug-In Hybrid and Civic Si) and putting one car on the top-10 Best Resale Value list (CR-V). Chevrolet did even better, winning two segments (with the V6 Camaro and the Corvette) and placing three cars on the top-10-overall list (again, the Camaro and Corvette, plus the Silverado 1500).
The other winners came from Jeep, Dodge, Infiniti, Subaru and Audi. To give you a clearer picture of the Toyota and Lexus domination, their 18 mentions represents more than half of the 34 awards (including the top-10-overall list).

Audi RS4 Avant Nogaro Selection puts a fresh face on old memories

I've been fortunate enough to drive plenty of memorable cars over the years, and one of my all-time favorites is the Audi RS4 sedan. It was only sold in the United States for a short time, but during that quick run, it made a huge impression on me. I remember everything about that car - the smell, the sound, the exact feeling of the manual shifter as it clicked between the six gears, and the texture of the steering wheel that I so happily tossed about. In fact, whenever I'm feeling nostalgic, I go back and watch this video of the late David E. Davis, Jr., running the California Mille roads in a Sprint Blue RS4 - a video we shot for Winding Road many years ago during my tenure as an editor there.
So even though the Audi RS4 Avant Nogaro that debuts here in Geneva isn't super important, especially for our American-centric audience, I feel compelled to write about it. No, we don't get the lovely RS4 in the States anymore, but the package offered in Europe is just as sweet as ever - perhaps even more so, what with that stylish longroof shape. Under the hood is Audi's excellent, naturally aspirated 4.2-liter V8 engine, tuned to deliver 450 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque, allowing for a 0-62 sprint of 4.7 seconds.
The Nogaro name refers to the special blue paint - a throwback to the original Audi RS2 Avant that kicked off the company's super sweet luxury offerings. Other unique features for the Nogaro car include gloss black exhaust outlets, window frames and grille surround, as well as matte black roof rails. Special 20-inch wheels round off the exterior enhancements, and inside, Nogaro Blue Alcantara accents can be had on the door panels and seat inners.

Audi Sport sets up new shop in Neuburg

Racing fans may know Audi best for its Le Mans team that's positively dominated the endurance racing scene. But as formidable as its Le Mans program is, that's only one of the racing disciplines in which Audi competes. It also competes in the full FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as Germany's popular DTM touring car series and supports customer teams in GT racing series around the world. And now the competition division is getting a new headquarters.
Audi Sport has until now been based in an old supermarket near to the company's head offices in Ingolstadt, but is now moving into a brand new, state-of-the-art facility 12 miles to the west in nearby Neuburg. The result of some 20 years of planning and two years of construction, the complex covers 116 acres of land in Neuburg-Heinrichsheim and will house engineers, technicians and other staff who deal with the R18 E-Tron Quattro, the RS5 DTM and R8 LMS Ultra that compete the world over.
The facility was officially opened this past Saturday with participation from top Audi brass and local government officials and included demonstrations from all three of those racecars around the on-site test track. The works team has begun moving in and the customer racing department will move into its new Motorsport Competence Center in the first half of 2015.