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Audi to enter third R18 following Loic Duval's huge crash

When we saw the picture above yesterday, our first thought went to driver Loic Duval. After hearing that he, miraculously, walked away from the annihilated heap that had been the number one Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, our next thought went Audi's hopes in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the race kicking off on Saturday, we couldn't be sure if the team would run a two-car effort (that would put them on even footing with the two-car teams of Porsche and Toyota), attempt to rebuild the decimated racer or bring in a new tub and start from scratch.
Turns out, Audi opted for door number three, importing an all-new chassis to replace the destroyed R18. According to Audi, the team pulled an all-nighter to ready the new car in time for scrutineering and the second round of qualifying.
After a lot of hard work the rebuilt #Audi R18 e-tron quattro No. 1 is almost complete #R18 #LM24 @FIAWEC pic.twitter.com/xicPj0wScW

2015 Audi S3 Sedan

For the last few years, Audi has been publicly toying with building a successor to its Ur-Quattro, a model still glowing in a gritty patina of motorsports glory decades after it left the scene. If anything, the rally car's halo has burned brighter as Audi has matured into a world luxury superpower. Since 2010, the German automaker has shown two different concept cars that attempted to re-bottle the legend's lightning, and it's still trying to figure out whether to market a production model. Despite that conundrum (and not to take anything away from the seminal Ur-Quattro), it's easy to argue that there are two other cars much more important to Audi's rise from its '80s ashes: the original TT and the B5-generation A4 and its high-performance variants.
The TT thrust Audi into the vanguard of automotive styling while firmly establishing the Volkswagen Group as masters of platform development (the same basic architecture and powertrain guts were employed in a dizzying array of models, from the Golf, Jetta and New Beetle to a number of Škoda products). This unprecedented, flexible building-block approach to new model development has since become the standard of the industry.
In the case of its B5 cars, the A4, S4 and RS4 put Audi back on the radar of rival German automakers, and more importantly, they grew the Four Rings' sales by leaps and bounds while reminding the world that all-wheel drive needn't only benefit hardcore performance cars and utility vehicles. Fast-forward to today, and the A4 has established itself as the bedrock of Audi's lineup, but it's also grown over its four generations to become substantially larger, heavier and costlier than the model that debuted back in 1996 America. That's created a vacuum at the bottom of the range that the company has inadequately addressed - until now.

Audi sends off second-gen TT with a few enhancements

The Audi stand at the Geneva Motor Show this year was the focus of a lot of attention with the reveal of the all-new TT, ushering in the third generation of the stylish sports coupe and roadster. But before the second-gen model gets the old heave-ho, Audi is giving it a few enhancements to send it out on a high note.
Stylistically, the 2015 Audi TT and TTS, both coupe and convertible, get a new single-frame grille and LED daytime running lights to make it better match its stablemates. The interior gets some upgraded equipment as well, but enthusiasts will be more intrigued by the optional Competition Package available on the TTS.
Like the package Audi rolled out to celebrate the 500,000th TT made, the new TTS Competition Package gets a fixed rear spoiler, five-spoke alloys, baseball-stitched leather seats with contrasting stitching and a choice of yellow or gray paints for the exterior.