Audi Announces New Investment Plan and Confirms New A3 and R8 e-tron for 2012

You can say business is going good for Audi as the German premium automaker announced today a new plan to invest €13 billion, mainly in new products and technologies and in expanding its sites by 2016, while the company will also recruit some 1,200 specialists in 2012 in addition to 3,500 new employees it hired throughout 2011.

“We are aiming to achieve strong growth on an international scale and boost our lightweight construction and electric mobility areas of expertise in particular," said Thomas Sigi, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources at AUDI AG. "That is why we will be hiring even more people and are planning to appoint a further 1,200 experts next year.”

Audi said that in order to cover its needs for skilled employees over the next few years, the brand and the employees’ elected representatives agreed to offer permanent employment contracts to trainees, students from vocational training academies and participants of the StEP program (Study and Experience in Practice) once they complete their courses.

The carmaker's planned investment of €13 billion (US$17 billion) from 2012 through 2016 is the biggest investment program in Audi's history.

“To maintain our profitable growth, we will step up investment spending on new products,” said Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management for Finance and Organization at Audi AG. “The Audi Group plans to invest over € 2 billion annually in new products and technologies.”

Audi said that more than €10.5 billion (US$13.7 billion) would be spent on the development of new models and on technologies of the future such as electric or hybrid drive.

The company also confirmed three new production models for 2012, including the A8 hybrid that employs a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine, the next generation of the A3, the 2013 A6 allroad quattro as well as the pure-electric R8 e-tron that will be built in a small series.

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Kia's Paris Show Mini Car Concept

Kia has released new photos of his concept of POP mini electric car a week before his scheduled world premiere at the Auto World 2010 in Paris. The study too futuristic for a small electric vehicle was written by Kia design team in Europe, led by Peter Schreyer, Chief Designer Kia Manager, and Gregory Guillaume, chief designer of the company in Europe.

"A concept car that POP can only come from us," says Gregory Guillaume. "Designers have rarely an opportunity to start from a clean piece of paper and it's nice to be able to function with such freedom. "

This translates into freedom in a car is only three feet long, 15 mm or longer than the Toyota iQ / Scion, with doors and seating for three with a seat next to a sofa as before and only one seat in the rear, which seems perfect for 'out' or young people in revenge for his mother-in-law.

South Korean manufacturer must keep a tight lid further details.

POP concept car from Kia is the Paris Motor Show with a number of production models, including the new Optima sedan, which will debut Euro before going on sale in some European countries this year. Kia said sales in Western Europe beginning in 2011. EU-spec Optima will be offered with a choice of two power plants, a 1.7-liter turbo diesel of 136 hp and a 2.0-liter engine delivers 170 horsepower.

 

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Report: McLaren Preparing New Models Including an MP4-12C Cabrio and a Lamborghini Aventador Rival

When the launch of your first and your second road models are separated by close to two decades (19 years to be exact), then you hardly qualify as a car manufacturer.

That is the case with McLaren: production of the extraordinary F1 begun in 1992 and stopped almost 100 cars later in 1998. Deliveries of its second production model, the MP4-12C, have just begun. Therefore, McLaren may be a big name in Formula 1, but it lacks Ferrari’s cache and experience in production models.

The Woking-based company plans to change this –and soon. The MP4-12C is just the first of a range of supercars that McLaren Automotive plans to launch in the next years –hence the new £40m ($63 million) McLaren Production Center factory and the brand’s rapidly expanding dealership network around the world.

Furthermore, as we reported, the company is planning to spend no less than $1 billion in the next few years to develop its new range. The brand’s managing director Anthony Sheriff said that McLaren has already spent £250 million ($400 million) in building 73 MP4-12C prototypes and covering more than 625,000 miles (1.0 million km) in development.

Obviously, you don’t make this kind of investment for just one model. McLaren even built eight crash prototypes to ensure that the carbon fiber monocell tub met all global safety standards.

That’s because it will underpin not just the MP4-12C, but all future McLaren models which will also feature a mid-engine layout. It may cost more to develop, but in the end, it proves more economical because you don’t have to invest in developing a new chassis or tooling equipment.

The 3.8-liter V8, 600HP MP4-12C, code-named P11, is positioned in the middle of McLaren’s range, rivaling models such as Ferrari’s 458 Italia and Lamborghini’s Gallardo. So far, it has proven a worthy, and in the track at least more capable, adversary. Moreover, McLaren made some last minute changes.

According to a report from Motor Trend, the next model in McLaren’s range bears the code-name P12 and is placed above the MP4-12C, as a successor to the 1992 F1 and a rival to hypercars such as Lamborghini’s Aventador.

It will deliver 800HP or possibly even more, but its weight will be similar to that of the MP4-12C because it will use carbon fiber in the crash structures and the body panels, which in the 12C are made of aluminum.

It will also feature more aerodynamic and electronic aids, such as active aero and brake steer, making sure that the handling matches the performance.

The P12 will be followed by the P13, placed below the MP4-12C and intended to rival cars such as the Porsche 911 Turbo and Audi’s V10 R8.

Each model will also have different variants: for example, the 12C already has the GT3 racing version, and an open top is on the designing board. Sheriff insists that all new cars “will be true McLarens. Everything we do will have performance and handling that’s the best in its segment.”

How many cars does McLaren intend to make? Its annual capacity doesn’t exceed 4,000 units. So if you subtract the 1,300 MP4-12Cs and, as sources within the company claim, 2,500 P13s, that leaves just 200 of the top of the line P12 per year.

When can we expect the new McLarens? Sooner than you’d think: the P12 is said to be shown in 2013, and the P13 just one year later.

Story sources: Motor Trend

 

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