There have been others since from Team Germany such as the Audi A7 and the up and coming BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. They’re great if you have executive car money but what if you’re bored of your humble Passat? The people’s car manufacturer had this problem in mind when they created the Passat CC back in 2008 and now there’s a new one. This time they’ve ditched the ‘P’ word for us in the UK to give it a touch more “swag juice”.

Not only has the name changed, but so have the looks. Like the previous car, it takes the same design language as the new Passat such as the horizontal chrome lines on the grille, new bumpers and LED rear lights but packaged to look much better overall. The interior will be the same as the current European Passat with the only obvious difference being the lower roof. Unlike the previous car this one will come with three rear seats to offer better practicality.

There’s a choice of four engines with the new CC; a 1.8L TSI, a 2.0L TSI producing 162bhp and 213bhp and two 2.0L TDI BlueMotion diesels with either 142bhp or 172bhp and will all of them you can choose between a manual or DSG gearbox.

Standard equipment includes sat-nav, DAB radio, Bluetooth, iPod socket, 17″ alloys, a brake energy recuperation system and ESP. GT models add leather upholstery, heated front seats, adaptive chassis control, cruise control, parking sensors all round and 18″ alloys. Optional equipment includes a more advanced adaptive cruise control that virtually clings on to the car in front and maintains its speed as well as blind spot monitors, rear view camera and massage seats.

The best bit is the price. The standard 1.8TSI CC starts at £24,200 with the highest spec CC GT diesel priced at £30,100. Like-for-like, that’s around half the price of the CLS and Audi A7. What about the smaller Audi A5 Sportback though? That’s a four-door coupe at a similar starting price, has a better interior and a better badge. Optioned up however, the Audi will rocket up in price. Leaving a nice gap in the market for the Volkswagen CC to power through. In the words of Kanye West, this could be VW’s best “Other Other Benz” yet…

We’ve spent some quality time with the S5, and after doing so CarThrottle is a definitely a fan of Audi’s A5/S5 lineup. For 2012 (model year 2013 in the United States) the car has been updated with a mid-cycle enhancement.

Before this hits the market though, Project Kahn, headed up by Afzal Kahn, has released a new tuning package for the standard 2011 A5 Coupe.

The effort turns up the A5′s aggressiveness quotient significantly, borrowing from the R8′s signature styling cues to do so. It reminds me a lot of some of the A5-based “Ur-Quattro” renderings we’ve seen thrown around.

Up front there is a new fascia, with black grille and red surround. R8-like air inlets dominate, and black trim sits just below the headlights. The 21-inch lightweight wheels are new, and fill up the wheel wells nicely. Out back, the car adopts vents under the taillights, and the center area between the taillights is blacked out for an aggressive look.

To top it off, the car is finished in a matt pearl gray finish that looks great in concert with the blacked-out elements. No pictures are released of the interior, but changes are few: aluminum pedals, new instrumentation, and if you so desire, an all-leather interior finished in any color you’d like.

The Kahn-tuned A5 is available from a starting price of £21,875 (around US $35,000 uSD at current exchange rates). And yes, we’d imagine that is the price for just the modifications….so if you have an A5 or S5 and want these modifications, be prepared to pony up.

CarThrottle is a big fan of the Audi A5/S5 lineup, especially after spending the week with a striking blue S5 tester. That cars styling, handling and V-8 engine won us over. Now, Audi is announcing a refresh for the car – one that updates it for an even more aggressive look.

The front headlights are all-new, replacing the current car’s design with a smaller and more nuanced one that features a cut in “wave” design. Inside they are more futuristic, with a dark background, new LED light piping and the removal of visible amber turn signals.

The grille has been redesigned to be simpler and more upright. It looks good – no doubt. We will have to check it out in person to see if it improved on near-perfection though. Out back, the taillights get minor details changes. The changes carry through to the A5, A5 Convertible, S5 and A5 Sportback (Europe-only) models.

Under the hood of the S5 we will undoubtedly lament the loss of Audi’s 4.2-liter V-8 engine. We love that engine for its power delivery, exhaust note – pretty much everything. At least for Europe (at this point) but likely for the United States market, it has been replaced by a supercharged 3.0-liter TFSI V-6 making 333 horsepower.

New with the car’s Quattro all-wheel drive system is a crown-gear center differential that features torque vectoring. As always, the system is rear-biased with up to 70 percent of power able to flow to the front axles and 85 percent to the rear at any given time.

In Europe, the car is being sold as a 2012 model. 2012 models in the U.S are already on the lots. However, we hear that it will be coming to the U.S for the 2013 model year. Stay tuned! Until it lands here, you can check out some pictures of the updated S5 below.

This latest tuning package is the third in a line of recent packages brought out by the company, including the A5 Grand Prix and the A1 minicar.

Customized Audis in bright “look at me” colors have been popping up on the internet, but Senner opts for a different tack. And it is no less then stunning, with a dark chocolate brown color that suits the A5 perfectly. If the changes Senner made to the bodywork look familiar, you aren’t alone – they are similar to the RS5.

The performance RS5 model isn’t available in Cabriolet form, so for those looking for the a similar appearance, this would be the package for you.

There is a power boost too – albeit nowhere near RS5 levels. Appearance is also aided by the lower ride height, KW Inox coilovers and 20-inch Varianza TIS alloy wheels.

The engine gets a new intake and engine software tweaks that take the bring the power level on the tuborcharged 2.0-liter four to 275 horsepower and 317 pound feet ft of torque,.

Rounding of the changes is a new stainless steel exhaust system. Stunning? Yes, but no one ever said stunning was cheap. The whole package as you see it goes for a hefty figure of  €74,900 (about $95K USD at current exchange rates).

That makes the package €19,900 (about $25k USD) when added to the base price of an A5 Cabriolet. Ouch!

Sales have increased to match – it was just announced that the 2-millionth Audi has been sold in the United States.

It took 40 years to achieve that goal, and we can only imagine the amount Audi will be hitting in the next 40 years. That success has all comes down to product – vehicles like the A5 in particular for enthusiasts.

Now, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting as the RS5 has officially been confirmed as coming to the U.S. This is extremely exciting news. Here in America, we currently get the S5 but the RS5 takes things up a notch.

Its arrival has been much speculated about in our media, with reports going back and forth about whether it is coming. With a 4.2-liter V8 making 450 horsepower, it is something to be excited about indeed.

While that is the biggest news in this news from Audi, they also announced pricing for the 2011 mode V-10 R8 Spyder 5.2 Quattro.

It starts out at $161,000 for the manual transmission car, going up to $170,000 when equipped with the R Tronic. How is that for a brand-building halo car?

R8 pricing and the RS5 headed to the U.S come just ahead of another Audi launch on Monday. The lineup is set to expand yet again with the new A7 Sportback.

Instead of the engine lineup we get here, the RS5 has a 4.2-liter naturally aspirated V-8 making 450 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque.

Unfortunately, it is not for Americans though – at least at the moment. The RS5 isn’t currently intended for our to shores right now. For now, these pictures are the closest most of us will get.

We’re still hoping the red, white and blue color scheme is a little hint, but we doubt it. However, we think there is a chance of it coming here eventually. Both the RS5 and the Sportback are on our Audi North America wish list.

Audi feels our pain a bit by dropping a new promotional video of the car on the track and on the road. There have been tons of speculation and renderings over the past few months about a new successor to the Ur-Quattro based on the A5. We have yet to see if that will come to pass, but the RS5 isn’t a bad replacement.

Anyhow, Audi must see it as the spiritual successor to the Ur-Quattro because the two join up in the video below. There is no music soundtrack – just the RS5′s exhaust note. Yes!

I ran across this little bit of news on Paul Tan’s site. He seems like a car guy, like us, but he’s based in Malaysia (see how far I go for you guys to get interesting news?), so he always digs up interesting things, or usually has a different perspective. So up pops the Hofele Design Audi A5 Styling Kit that was inspired by Audi’s highly impressive R8.

Look I got nothing, really, against the A8. OK, I got two things against it: They’re no semi-auto box, and I don’t have one, but other than that, it seems like a hell of a great car, and they’re not that expensive, relatively speaking to their competition. And I have pretty much the same feelings for the A5. Handsome car – sure, I’d go with a sportscar, but the 5 is nothing to sneeze at.

But this? Hofele Design, what were you thinking? Paul Tan’s brother Danny, who wrote the original article notes that there are companies that make ‘ … “R8 style” kits for cars like the Audi A5 and TT.’ Gah! The TT? Please no … don’t do that. But let’s not go off on that tangent, let’s look at the evidence before us: The Hofele Design R8-inspired Audi A5 Styling Kit.

It would seem that the German tuner makes R8 like kits for all three models of the Audi A5: Coupe, Convertible and Sportback. (Grand. Total annihilation.) The kit comes with an front bumper with the air vents below the headlamps and very much has an R8-look. If you own an A5 coupe or convertible you can also get the R8’s unique signature side blades. There is also a rear bumper with faux air-outlets and integrated diffuser. Four exhaust tips complete the bastardizati-er-transformation.

Can I borrow some Visine?

Source: Paul Tan

Coachbuilding is actually a profession that is on the rise, thanks to modern technology. It declined into virtual non-existence after it’s original heyday. Manufacturers produced body-on-frame vehicles that could be easily adapted, and also specifically sold running chassis vehicles to coachbuilding companies.

Benero is one such vehicle, an exclusive at automobile magazine Autogespot. Don’t bother looking Benero up – there is no official information available from the manufacturer of the car, only these images.

The car is based on the Audi A5, and certainly from the outside is well-differentiated. The front end looks similar to something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Word is that the  Benero, as typical for coachbuilt cars, in a run of only 50 units priced at – get this – 400,000 euros (nearly $600,000 USD at current exchange rates). The price for having something different can be quite steep!

For more images, head over to Autogespot. I’m interested in hearing more about this car. Hopefully something will come out soon.

But sadly, this is the real world, and modern Saabs continue to disappoint.  Hey, something had to take the spiritual place of the 9000 Aero.  I suppose I’m fine with the fact that it’s an Audi.  And why am I whining, then?  Well, mainly because Audi hasn’t see fit to stamp “export to USA” on the S5 Sportback.  But it’s a marvelous vehicle nonetheless.

We’ve talked extensively about the A5 Sportback here on CarThrottle in the past.  While I’m still not sure where it sits in Audi’s lineup (slightly bigger but probably less useful than an A4 Avant, smaller and definetely less useful than an A6 Avant, but spacious and useful compared to the Q5, but… you get the point) I certainly see the appeal of the design.  Now Audi’s added some serious horsepower to the mix, and I’m interested.

The engine is the same under the hood of the new S4, S5 Cabriolet, and the A6 3.0T.  It’s the 3.0L V6 topped with a supercharger huffing up to 0.8bar of pressure (which is why that “T” at the end of “3.0T” makes so much sense), direct fuel injection, and twin air-to-air intercoolers, which spits out 333bhp and 324lb-ft of torque.  It’s the same combination of powerful acceleration and surprising fuel economy that makes the S4 such a winner – in this case, the S5 Sportback does 0-100km/h in 5.4 seconds while managing a combined 24mpg rating.

All S5 Sportbacks will come standard with Quattro AWD as well as a 7-speed S-Tronic (DSG to you and me) transmission.  Audi’s trick torque-vectoring Sport Differential is optional, and you know you want it.  18″ wheels are standard, but you can bling up your S5 Sportback with some 20″ if you like increased unsprung mass.  Inside, it’s business as usual for Audi:  high-quality materials, attractive and intelligent design, lots of leather, and lots of stainless steel.

The S5 Sportback goes on sale first quarter of 2010 with a starting price of €57,900.  Fast, practical, or affordable – I guess it’s still “pick two.”  Or for Americans, in this case, it’s “pick none.”  Thanks a lot, Audi.