Third and final installment of the official sketches leaked by the Audi Design Team to Car Magazine. After the Audi A1 hatch and Audi R8 spider, we can now see how the Audi A7 will look.

The Audi A7 is Ingolstadt’s answer to the Mercedes-Benz CLS. It will be shown to the public at the New York auto show 2008 and it will be in showrooms by september 2009.

The sketch shows us a sleek four-door car, with a swept-back roof line, wide wheel arches and big square exhaust tubes.

The A7 will use the same platform as the next Audi A6, based on the modular MLB system, with a new steering mechanism, new multilink suspensions and a revised Quattro four-wheel drive system. The new weight distribution made possible by MLB, together with the rear bias of the new Quattro system should make the A7 more of a drivers’ car than the current A6, according to Car Magazine.

The engines should be a selection of the Audi V6s and V8s. The gasoline range should include the 3.2 V6 FSI and 4.2 V8 FSI (but, according to Auto Bild, these engines should be made somewhat obsolete by a new biturbo 3.2 V6 FSI with more than 300 ps). We can also expect the S7 to equip the Lamborghini-derived 5.2 V10 of the S6 (435 ps), with a biturbo version of the same engine for the RS7 (580 ps, more or less). The diesel engine range will include the 3.0 V6 TDI (240 ps) and the 4.2 V8 TDI (326 ps).

Prices should be halfway between the A6 and A8, with “normal” models ranging from 55,000 to 75,000 €.
Infine i prezzi, che dovrebbero posizionarsi a metà strada tra A6 e A8, con i modelli “normali” posizionati tra i 55.000 e i 75.000 €.

Second installment of the leaks to Car Magazine from Audi’s Design Team. After the Audi A1, it’s time to see how the Audi R8 Spider will look.

We can see some intriguing details, like the two humps behind the headrests, somewhat like those of the Porsche Speedster, with air intakes at the base. The vertical “blade” of the R8 coupè is much shorter here, only as high as the side air intakes. Car Magazine writes that the R8 Spider will have removable targa panels, not a soft top.

Sales should start in 2009 with a price around 125.000 €. The engines should be the
same as the coupè: the 4.2-liter V8 FSI with 420 ps and, maybe, the 5.2-liter V10 derived from the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Via | Caronline

Car Magazine has obtained official design sketches of the new Audi A1, Mini-rival from Ingolstadt. They write that these sketches have been “smuggled out of Ingolstadt’s design HQ”.

The Audi A1 will join the B-premium segment (or supermini), a segment that has grown in appeal, with the success of the Mini (and, seemingly, of the Fiat 500). The A1 aims to be a classy hatchback, with Audi’s typical design style and all of the “vorsprung durch technik” rhetoric.

The A1, which should be just under 4 meters long, will be the first car built around VAG’s new MQB formula (”modular transverse matrix”). One can suppose that the MQB is the equivalent for small cars of the MLB platform that Audi has started using on the A5 (and will use for all models from the A4 upwards). The next A3 (coming in 2010) will also be based on the MQB formula, which should help lower the design and assembly costs, thanks to its modularity (according to Audi it will be 1.000 $ cheaper per unit compared to VAG’s current small-car platforms).

The Audi A1 should come in four different body-types: the small three-door hatchback you can see in the sketches, a bigger five-door version (like the A3 Sportback compared to the A3 three-door), a two-door coupè and an open top model (either a two-seat roadster or a cabrio version of the coupè).

The A1 will also feature four-wheel drive, which could also be used by an offroad version (the Q1) and by the S1 (in the third sketch), a rival for the Cooper-S JCW, with a turbo-charged 200 ps engine.

Alll engines will feature direct-injection. The gasoline engine range will feature at least five variants of the 1.4-litre engine, with and without turbo-charger (or twin-charger): 65, 85, 105, 140 and 170 ps. The diesel range will feature 4 versions of the new four-cylinder 1.6-litre common rail engine: 75, 90, 105 and 130 ps.

The Audi A1 should also feature the new 7-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission.

Sales objectives are very ambitious, starting at 100.000 units in 2010 and ramping up to 190.000 units once the open-top and Q1 versions are in production. The price should be a tad lower than a comparably equipped Mini, starting from 16.000 €.

Audi has announced a new 1.4-liter four-cylinder TFSI engine for the A3, available starting from november 2007a. The new engine, a turbocharged unit with gasoline direct injection, delivers 125 ps at 5,000 rpm with a maximum torque of 200 Nm, costant between 1,500 to 4,000 rpm (80% of max. torque is available at 1,250 rpm, just above idle).

The new Audi unit is suspiciously similar to the 1.4 TSI unit recently announced by VW (122 ps, 200 Nm between 1,500 and 4,000 rpm), a unit which debutted on the Golf. According to Audi the 1.4 TFSI sets new standard for its class in terms of acoustic comfort.

Performance is pretty interesting: a top speed of 203 km/h and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 9.6 seconds (three-door A3). Almost on par with the A3 2.0 TDI, which has 140 ps, a top speed of 207 km/h and accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 9.5 seconds. The A3 1.4 TFSI performs much better than the A3 1.6 FSI (which it will probably replace) and the A3 1.9 TDI.

Average fuel consumption for the A3 1.4 TFSI will be 6.5 liters/100 km (for comparison purposes, the A3 1.9 TDI boasts 4.9 l/100 km, but costs about 1,200 € more). The starting price for the A3 1.4 TFSI Attraction will be 21,350 euros.