New Audi Cars Concept

The company is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Germany and has been a wholly-owned (99.55%) subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen AG) since 1964. Volkswagen Group relaunched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi 60 range. Shortly thereafter the name was acquired as part of Volkswagen's purchase of the Auto Union assets from former owner, Daimler-Benz.

The company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, the name itself an English cognate with the English word "hark", meaning listen — which when translated into Latin, becomes Audi.

Audi Cars
Audi Cars
Audi Cars
Audi Cars
Audi Cars

Carlsson C25 World Premiere in Geneva

Carlsson will bring a limited series, 753-horsepower car to the Geneva Motor Show.  Only 25 units of the Carlsson C25 hypercar will be produced once it debuts in March.

Based on the Mercedes SL 600 the car runs on a 6.0-liter bi-turbo V12 engine that gets the car from 0 to 100 km/h with up to 1150 Nm of torque.  However, once you go faster than 100 km/h, the car will make use of 1320 Nm.  Top speed is 352 km/h (218.7 mph).

Carlsson CEO Markus Schuster wanted his company to build a car that was safe enough for the road as well as the track.  “Therefore, we deliberately wanted to develop a car which is highly exclusive on the one hand and can be used for the daily journey to office on the other hand,” Schuster said.  “All security-relevant regulations such as pedestrian protection, crash behaviour, ESP, ABS, Airbag systems are identical to large series editions with most modern standards.”

Engineers installed a C-Tronic adaptive and variable suspension to make the car more responsive on curves, but comfortable on straight lines.  All four lightweight 20-inch wheels combine to weigh less than 45 kilograms, and come wrapped in high performance tires.  405 mm slotted brake discs are used up front, along with 380 mm discs in back.

Inside, the company used a combination of tanned buffalo leather, carbon fiber, and suede in a variety of colors.  Race seats, five-point belts, roll bars, and roll cage were all left off the car to keep the luxe vehicle comfortable.

Pricing on the limited edition Carlsson C25 will be announced closer to its Geneva debut.

Citroen Lacoste Concept

The new DS4 hatchback is nice and all but a Paris Motorshow without a quirky concept from Citroën is like having a French meal without wine and cheese. For this year's edition of the show, Citroën has joined forces with famous French clothing Lacoste, to create a funky looking study aptly called the "Citroën Lacoste Concept".
At 3.45m long, 1.80m wide and 1.52m high with a 2.30m long wheelbase, the concept model is roughly the same size as a Citroën C1 / Toyota Aygo. Power comes from a three-cylinder gasoline engine, with the French firm claiming that it offers "plenty of performance on tap to power a vehicle of this size and weight."
A number of styling details make a direct reference to the sporting / clothing world of the Lacoste brand. On the outside you have the golf ball-style alloy wheels and the square relief designs that resemble sections of a tennis net on several parts of the car's body.

Inside -among other details- is the seat trim with a weave closely resembling that of a polo shirt and the seatbelt anchorage points that have "necklines" like the French brand's polo shirts.

One of the coolest features of the door-less concept is the T-shaped structure that extends back to the boot like a "backbone". It hides an auto-inflatable hood that deploys all the way along the backbone to form a soft-top roof to somewhat protect passengers from the elements of natures.

We'll have more info and photos of the Citroën Lacoste Concept from the Paris Show floor on September 30.

Audi R8 GT 560HP: New Photo Gallery of Ingolstadt's Flagship Sports Car

Audi has dropped a boat load of fresh images of the hard-core version of its R8 supercar called the GT. You can read all the details in our previous post here, but as a refresher, the GT is a lighter, more powerful and faster variant of the R8.

It is powered by a modified version of the R8 V10's naturally aspirated 5.2-liter direct-injection engine producing 550-horsepower, while thanks to a series of weight-saving measures that shave about 100kg (220 lbs), the car tips the scales at 1,525 kilograms (3,362 lbs).

Audi says the R8 GT accelerates from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph), while returning a combined fuel efficiency of 13.9 liters of fuel per 100 km (16.9 US mpg).

The GT also benefits from a modified suspension, larger carbon fiber ceramic brakes, 19-inch forged alloys wrapped in 235/35 tires up front and 295/30 at the back, and numerous aero tweaks that are said to improve downforce.

All in all, Audi will produce just 331 copies of the R8 GT, each priced in Germany at €193,000 (approximately US$252,400 at the current exchange rates).