Bathurst, Daytona, Dubai, Laguna Seca, Nürburgring, Sepang and Spa: Ever since the Audi R8 LMS made its debut in 2015, it has engraved its name in the winners’ lists of the major endurance races. Worldwide championship titles, plus international success in the FIA GT World Cup and Intercontinental GT Challenge complete the track record for the young winning car. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement for Audi Sport: “In developing the evolution of the car, we’ve put even greater focus on our customers and their needs,” says Chris Reinke. “The pre-design stage for the second evolution of our current model generation centered on many discussions with our teams.” In addition to the pros who are successful with the race cars, amateur drivers have also clinched class victories or overall titles in America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

During the development project of the latest evolution, Audi Sport concentrated on providing these customers with an even better technical base than before. Optimization of the aerodynamics and cooling give greater consistency under various dynamic driving conditions. Durability of the power transmission elements is another focal area. For the teams, the evolution package of the Audi R8 LMS pays off both in terms of racing and economy: Moderate modifications of the overall concept and longer service intervals for the clutch and transmission represent sensible investments promising success in racing and optimally support amateurs. Whether the teams already own a second-generation Audi R8 LMS or buy a new model: the changes benefit everyone and are also suitable for retrofitting to existing race cars.

Following the world debut in Paris, Audi Sport will deliver the first customer race cars in November at a sales price of 398,000 euros (plus VAT). The evolution kit for retrofitting older model generations costs 28,000 euros (plus VAT). Following FIA homologation, the race cars will be battling internationally for points, victories and titles starting in January.

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Standing still or on the move, the Audi e-tron is electrifying. Its expressive sill area, the electric tailboard and the light gray Singleframe are indicators of the high-voltage technology that makes for a special driving experience. The electric SUV is powered by two powerful electric motors that are locally CO2-neutral and virtually silent. A new generation of the quattro drive, the electric all-wheel drive, ensures excellent traction and dynamics. It ensures the continuous and variable regulation of the ideal distribution of drive torques between the two axles – within a fraction of a second. 

A key factor for the sporty character and outstanding transverse dynamics is the low and central position at which the battery system is installed. It gives the vehicle a range that is suitable for driving long distances. During far more than 90 percent of all decelerations, the Audi e-tron recovers energy solely via its electric motors. The electric SUV taps its maximum recuperation potential in combination with the integrated electrohydraulic brake control system. Audi is the world’s first carmaker to use such a system in an electrically powered series production vehicle. The cleverly designed aerodynamics also contribute significantly to its efficiency. One highlight of this concept are the optional virtual exterior mirrors – a worldwide first in a series production model. Not only do they reduce aerodynamic drag, they also take digitalization in the vehicle to a whole new level. 

The Audi e-tron offers the spaciousness and comfort of one of the brand’s typical full-size models. Paired with high-quality materials and fine workmanship, it makes electric mobility a premium experience. This is also ensured by the comprehensive and reliable range of charging options with intelligent solutions for at home and on the go. 

From navigation with the e-tron route planner, which displays the appropriate route with the required charging points, automated billing at the charging station and all the way to remote control via smartphone – the Audi e-tron is extremely well connected. It is equipped with the high-end media center MMI navigation plus including LTE Advanced and a Wi-Fi hotspot as standard. Numerous assist systems further relieve the driver. For example, the standard efficiency assist promotes an economic driving style by displaying predictive information and performing automatic recuperation. If the customer selects the adaptive cruise assist, the system can also brake and accelerate the electric SUV predictively.

The Audi e-tron rolls off the assembly line at the CO2-neutral plant in Brussels. Initial deliveries to European customers are planned for late 2018. The starting price of the electric SUV in Germany is 79,900 euros.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

The new Audi A6 achieved the top rating in the Euro NCAP, scoring on all relevant criteria: protection of adult passengers, child safety, pedestrian safety, and driver assistance systems. The actively supporting safety systems — which include automatic emergency braking systems for city traffic and for highways—are included in the overall NCAP assessment with a weighting of 20%.

In the new Audi A6, a large number of assist systems make driving even safer, more convenient and more relaxing. The standard Audi pre sense front system helps avoid collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Another highlight is the adaptive cruise assist, which enhances the adaptive cruise control with a lane guidance function over the entire speed range and with the traffic jam assist. An ideal upgrade for it is the efficiency assist. This brakes and accelerates the vehicle predictively by analyzing Car-to-X information, sensor information and navigation data as well as traffic signs.

Behind the assistance systems in the new Audi A6 is a portfolio of sensors that ideally complement one another in terms of their respective properties. All sensor data are incorporated in the central driver assistance controller (zFAS), which continuously generates a differentiated image of the surroundings. As a result of this central data fusion, the assist systems work even more precisely than in the previous model.

The new Audi A6 is also tops when it comes to passenger protection. Its body consists of an intelligent mix of aluminum and steel, with hot-stamped steel components forming the ultra-high-strength backbone in the passenger compartment. With its high rigidity, the body lays the foundations for the vehicle’s high crash safety, sporty and precise handling and acoustic comfort on board. 

The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), launched in 1997, is a program for assessing the safety of passenger cars. It is supported by a consortium of European transport ministries, automobile clubs, insurance associations and research institutes. Twelve institutions from eight European countries are involved. Almost all new vehicles are tested and rated on their passive and active safety in the Euro NCAP. The program’s extensive test requirements considerably exceed the applicable standards required under European legislation.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

Inviting – the spaciousness, the interior and the body
The new Audi A6 Avant measures 4.94 meters (16.2 ft) long, 1.89 meters (6.2 ft) wide and 1.47 meters (4.8 ft) high. Its interior is even more spacious than that of the predecessor model. It beats the competition with front and rear elbow room as well as with rear knee room. The folding rear seat is split three ways.

As with the predecessor model, luggage capacity is 565 liters (20.0 cu ft) in the base configuration, and that despite the sharply sloping D-pillar and rear window. This increases to 1,680 liters (59.3 cu ft) with the rear seats folded down. A power tailgate and power luggage compartment cover are standard; Audi offers a sensor controlled tailgate in combination with the convenience key. Other standard features include a system of rails with four lashing points integrated into the loading floor, a tensioning strap and two fastening hooks. The optional load-securing kit with telescopic bar and strap allow you to divide the luggage compartment to your exact requirements. The optional swiveling trailer towing hitch features an electric release function. Also available as an option is the camera-based trailer maneuver assist, which helps the driver when reversing and maneuvering with a trailer. The lower MMI touch display can be used to steer the trailer. 

The new Audi A6 Avant is perfectly at home on long journeys, due in part to the low interior noise level. Aeroacoustics and aerodynamics are top-notch; the base model to follow later has a Cd value of 0.27. With its high rigidity, the steel and aluminum body lays the foundation for the high degree of acoustic comfort on board as well as for excellent handling. New optional comfort and convenience features such as the large panoramic glass sunroof, new seats or the optional air quality package with two different scents and ionizer make the A6 Avant an ideal touring car.

Dynamic and elegant – the exterior design
Attractive station wagons go by the name of Avant. The new A6 Avant underscores this Audi claim by combining high everyday utility with dynamic design. It is the first Avant model in the new Audi design language, which is characterized by large, athletically taut surfaces, sharp lines and short overhangs.

A wide, low Singleframe grille dominates the front of the new A6 Avant. A distinctive silhouette with a stretched front end and trapezoid window surfaces characterize the side view. Brawny blisters over the wheel arches emphasize the quattro drive. The sinewy roof line flows into a roof edge spoiler, which makes the side view appear even longer. The Avant’s D-pillars and rear window are particularly sloping, which reinforces the dynamic appearance. An aluminum trim strip joins the two rear lights and visually underscores the width of the car. As alternatives to the series version, customers can choose the sport and design trim lines as well as the S line exterior package. 

See and be seen – the lighting design
The new A6 Avant rolls off the assembly line with LED headlights as standard. Audi offers Matrix LED headlights and HD Matrix LED headlight with high-resolution, adaptive high beam as options. Five horizontal lines draw the daylight running light signature with this option. The optional dynamic turn signal and the pulsating coming-home and leaving-home sequences set additional accents.

House beautiful – the interior design
The elegant, puristic architecture in the interior of the new Audi A6 Avant harmonizes perfectly with the operating concept. Dominating the slender instrument panel is a black, glass-like surface into which the upper MMI touch response display is integrated. This display is tilted toward the driver. The emphatically horizontal body line in the interior underscores the impression of generous space. In the dark, the optional contour ambient lighting package highlights this spaciousness.

Audi offers a choice of four trim lines in addition to the base version: sport, design, design selection and S line sport package, each of which has its own color concept. The shades are progressive and elegant; the materials are sophisticated and includes such things as Valcona leather and trim panels in open-pore wood. The S line exterior package can be combined with any of the trim lines.

Safety and convenience – the driver assistance systems
With frequent drivers and commuters in mind, the A6 Avant provides an extensive range of driver assistance systems. These use refined control mechanisms to enhance convenience and provide additional support for drivers’ tasks. Besides the standard “Audi pre sense front” emergency braking assist, customers can choose a total of 39 assistants in two different packages. The individual systems are bundled into the packages City and Tour.

The Tour package includes the adaptive cruise assist with narrowed road assist. It conveniently handles longitudinal and lateral guidance in stop-and-go traffic right down to a standstill and over the entire speed range, and also supports the driver by accelerating and braking to maintain the set speed or distance to the vehicle ahead. 

The supplemental efficiency assist function enables the adaptive cruise assist to predictively adjust speed to speed limits, curves and roundabouts. If route guidance is active, it can even adjust speed for turns. The driver sees the target speed on the display. In doing so, the system always adapts the driving style to the selected driving program, from efficient to sporty. 

Another highlight is the emergency assist, which provides for greater safety. It detects when the driver is inactive and provides a visual, acoustic or haptic warning depending on the hazard. If this does not prompt a reaction, the system takes control of the A6 Avant and automatically stops it in its own lane with the hazard warning lights on. This also activates pre sense safety measures and, depending on the country, triggers an automatic emergency call. 

With the City package, five systems assist the driver: The crossing assist warns of critical cross-traffic in front of the car, and Audi pre sense 360° warns of vehicles approaching from the side. The rear cross traffic assist detects approaching vehicles when slowly driving backwards, for example when pulling out of a parking spot perpendicular to the road. Exit warning and lane change warning supplement the package. Additional systems, such as the trailer maneuver assist, are available separately.

All of these systems are managed by the central driver assistance controller (zFAS). It continuously generates a differentiated model of the car’s surroundings. Depending on the equipment level, it uses data from as many as five radar sensors, six cameras, twelve ultrasonic sensors and a laser scanner.

Attentive and accommodating – the infotainment
The standard infotainment system in the new Audi A6 Avant is MMI navigation, which can be upgraded to the top system, MMI navigation plus. Its data transfer module supports the LTE Advanced standard and incorporates a Wi-Fi hotspot. The self-learning navigation system recognizes the driver’s preferences based on previous journeys and uses this information to make intelligent suggestions as a destination is being entered. The route is calculated online on the servers of service provider HERE and also in the car.

The Audi connect portfolio offers numerous online services, including several Car-to-X services. With the optional Audi connect key, customers can lock and unlock their new A6 Avant via an Android smartphone. The myAudi app connects the car with the owner’s smartphone. The Audi phone box enables telephony via the Voice-over-LTE protocol. The Bang & Olufsen Advanced Sound System uses a total of 19 speakers to deliver fascinating 3D sound, including in the rear. 

Efficient and powerful – the mild hybrid technology
All engines in the new A6 Avant come with Audi’s new mild hybrid technology (MHEV). In real-world driving, this can reduce fuel consumption by up to 0.7 liters per 100 kilometers. With the V6 engines, it operates with 48 V, while the four-cylinder engines use a 12 V electrical system. The belt alternator starter, the heart of the MHEV system, recovers up to 12 kW with the 48 V system during braking and feeds the electricity into a separate lithium-ion battery. At speeds between 55 and 160 km/h (34.2 and 99.4 mph), the A6 Avant models can coast with the combustion engine deactivated. The start-stop range begins at 22 km/h (13.7 mph), 15 km/h (9.3 mph) with the 150 kW, four-cylinder diesel engine.

Intuitive and clear – the MMI touch response operating system
In the MMI touch response operating concept of the new Audi A6 Avant, the driver controls nearly all functions on two large displays. The driver manages infotainment and navigation on the upper, 10.1-inch display (when equipped with MMI navigation plus). The 8.6-inch display below that is used to for climate control, comfort and convenience functions and text input, during which the driver can rest their wrist on the gear selector lever.

With its haptic and acoustic feedback, the MMI touch response technology is fast and safe. Operation is via touch and swipe gestures, just like with a smartphone. The menu structure is logical and flat. Direct access buttons for various functions on the upper screen and shortcuts on the lower screen allow the user to personalize the arrangement of many icons.

MMI navigation plus also includes the fully digital Audi virtual cockpit, which has a 12.3-inch screen and is operated with the multifunction buttons on the steering wheel. A head-up display is optionally available. The standard natural language voice control turns the new A6 Avant into a dialogue partner. It uses both onboard data as well as information from the cloud to respond to commands and questions. Individual profiles for up to six users plus a guest profile can be used to store roughly 400 preferred settings for a number of vehicle functions and features. 

Unprecedented spread – the chassis
Compared with the previous model, the suspension of the new A6 Avant offers an even wider spread between dynamics and comfort. The standard progressive steering, which is already direct, works with greater return forces as steering angle increases for a sporty driving feel. Its new control concept provides intense road feedback without transferring unpleasant jolts to the steering wheel.

Audi offers dynamic-all-wheel steering as an option. It combines maneuverability, agility and stability in a whole new way. At speeds up to 60 km/h (37.3 mph), the rear wheels turn as much as five degrees in the opposite direction to the front wheels. Rear-axle steering thus reduces the Avant’s turning circle by as much as one meter (3.3 ft) to 11.1 meters (36.4 ft). This makes the A6 Avant much more agile on winding country roads. At higher speeds, the front and rear wheels turn in the same direction. This improves both straight-line tracking and stability when changing lanes.  

Audi offers a choice of four suspension variants in the new A6 Avant: the standard steel-spring suspension, the sport suspension, the suspension with damper control and the adaptive air suspension, also with controlled dampers. In addition to the dampers and the air springs, the electronic chassis platform (ECP) also manages the dynamic all-wheel steering and the sport differential, which actively distributes the drive torque as needed between the rear wheels during fast cornering. 

The driver can adjust the settings for all controlled suspensions in the Audi drive select dynamic handling system – in the modes efficient, auto, comfort and dynamic. The dynamic all-wheel steering varies its ratio and the degree of feedback, for example. The new Audi A6 Avant stands on wheels measuring up to 21 inches, which boast exceptional ride and noise comfort even at this size.

Three winners – the engines
The new Audi A6 Avant will launch on the European markets with three turbocharged engines. The entry-level engine is a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder TDI with an output of 150 kW (204 hp) in the A6 Avant 40 TDI (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 4.9 – 4.5*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 129 – 119*). Above that are two V6 TDI engines with a displacement of 3.0 liters. These have an output of 170 kW (231 hp) in the A6 Avant 45 TDI (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 5.9 – 5.7*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 155 – 147*) and 210 kW (286 hp) in the A6 Avant 50 TDI (combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 5.9 – 5.7*; combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 155 – 147*).

The two V6 TDI units forward their power to an eight-speed tiptronic; the 2.0 TDI to a seven-speed S tronic. quattro all-wheel drive is standard equipment with the V6 engines. Variants with tiptronic feature a self-locking center differential. In combination with the S tronic, the quattro ultra technology instantly connects the rear wheel drive when necessary. The optional sport differential is the ideal supplement to the V6 TDI units. During sporty cornering, it actively distributes the torque between the rear wheels.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com