Skip to main content

Audi Wants RSs to Get Hot and Heavy with 48-Volt Systems

Audi makes cars that are lovely to behold, a joy to drive, stable at speed, futuristic, and much more besides. One word you could never use to describe them, though, is light.

Ever since the ‘80s, the brand has had a weighty (and forward-looking) commitment to adding as much driveline as possible. Since becoming a leading light in the luxury world, it’s also been committed to making its interiors silent. And now its 48-volt systems are making turbos better and luxury cars better performers (and vice versa).

What all of these technologies have in common is that they’re heavy. And although Audi isn’t alone testing the strength of the world’s roads, it’s on the forefront of weight-making technology.

Still, Audi feels that the technology’s advantages outweigh (…) the disadvantages, even for its line of high-performance cars.

“You will see future Audi Sport models with electrification,” Anthony Garbis, RS5 Product Manager, told Car Buzz at the New York Auto Show. “We will be thrilling you in the near future. Pretty soon.”

Although Garbis was careful not get into specifics he told Car Buzz that the technology would proliferate through the model line.

And although the technology has performance advantages—we all now know how it can eliminate turbo lag and make cars more stable through corners, but soft over rough roads—but it could also be a way to keep RS models on the road.

With all cars being required to reduce their impact on the environment, adding a measure of electrification could help keep enthusiast cars like the Audi Sport line around.

Some kind of electrification will be necessary Heinz Hollerwerger, former head of Audi Sport (then Quattro GmbH) said in 2014 and the company looks to be intent on making it happen.

Next week Audi Sport will be revealing an e-Tron Gran Turismo Vision car. Although this car is pure fantasy, it’s still an example of the brand dipping its toes into the world of electrification.

While Audi and Audi Sport continue to stuff more technology into their vehicles, this does prove that their commitment to performance remains. At least we know that our ongoing feature “Big Audis Go Speeds they Have no Business Going” (that’s #BAGSthnBG for the more youth-oriented) will continue to be relevant in years to come.

[source: Car Buzz]

The post Audi Wants RSs to Get Hot and Heavy with 48-Volt Systems appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2GIeTBj
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...