Car Throttle

With BMW and possibly Infiniti looking set to join the four-door luxury coupe fray in a couple of years, it looks like Audi and Mercedes will be the main contenders duking it out. Porsche's Panamera is also considered to be in that category. Despite being just introduced in July, Audi is already hard at work at the next model in the lineup - the performance S7 model. Reports say it could make an introduction as soon as the Paris Auto Show. More extreme stylistic changes are likely being saved for the future RS7 model that the A7 is just begging for. It will be interesting to see if Audi produces one, given the inevitable competition with it and the Porsche Panamera. One thing is clear from the spy photos

The four-door coupe segment just officially got a new entrant today in the Audi A7 Sportback. Mercedes-Benz pioneered the segment with the hot-selling CLS fashion icon. Since, it has spurred a whole host of copycats, but not yet a true competitor. There have been models below like the Volkswagen Passat CC and certainly above with models like the Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera. That is changing quickly with the advent of the Audi A7 Sportback and BMW's production of the Gran Coupe. Let's check out the A7. Stunning pretty much sums it up. Groundbreaking? No. There weren't any surprises here, as the overall look was well previewed by the A7 Sportback Concept, as well as the A5 Sportback. That doesn't stop it from being beautiful though. The A7

Audi has a goal to become the world's largest luxury automaker by 2015. In the last quarter, they came closer to that goal than ever before, coming at number two, behind BMW. To take over the top spot, the brand has set out to increase its model lineup. It has added the A5, Q5 and the A1 supermini in a relatively short space of time. The next model is something at the higher end of the range, the A7 Sportback. It was previewed a little while back at the Detroit Show. We loved that concept's styling and hope it translates over well to the production Audi A7. From what we can tell based on the camoflauged overall shape, it looks like it is.  Now we just need

After a big introduction, usually new variants and models are confirmed at a later date. That helps to keep interest up n the model and not to deflate any current sales. The new Audi A8 was released at a special event on Monday at the "The Art of Progress" show in Miami Beach, Florida. Audi has always offered a great driving experience and sporty models on even the standard cars. For those looking for a bit more, the S range of models compete with the equivalent M models at Mercedes-Benz. Audi design director Stefan Sielaff said the new S8 will "Create a new design grammar which will also go onto the next S6, S7 and S1." That is a very interesting statement, because it is a confirmation

The recent Porsche-Volkswagen debacle has resulted in a high-concentration of brands under one roof, and luxury/performance ones at that.  Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche are all under the same roof. How they will all be managed and what kind of sharing will go on will be interesting to see. A balancing act for sure! One thing that we have heard is that the new VW board has opted to axe the Porsche Cayenne SUV and recently-introduced Panamera. I remain highly skeptical about that possibility, but something that has been floated around is a high-end Audi based on the car's platform. Voila, Audi R7! The R7 would be a "4-door coupe" in the vein of the Panamera, Rapide and CLS, but with a different twist on the

While BMW overpopulates it's lineup with segment-melding, identity-confused vehicles like the X6, 5-Series GT and X1, Audi is taking a different tack in it's goal to hit 1.5 million sales by sometime around the middle of next decade. Audi is diving head first into the emerging "4-door coupe" with it's new segment line Sportback. I think the blending of sedans with a coupe-roofline is a good idea. Audi debuted the Sportback Concept at Detroit 2009 that previewed what to expect from future Sportback models and more specifically, the upcoming A7 Sportback. The teaser is pretty standard; offering a good view of the back but not showing any of the side or front in actual pictures. Audi is trying to build excitement for the vehicle. But along