Autocar Agosto 01, 2018

SURELY THERE CAN be no tougher car company group to run, let alone fix, than Fiat, with its eclectic great brands typically lacking great cars in recent years, and a penchant historically to find scandal and crisis where none should exist. Yet Sergio Marchionne, who died suddenly last week (p16), ensured Fiat has not just survived but also thrived to a state where it is one of the world’s leading car companies. He had a love of business before cars, which hasn’t always gelled with enthusiasts (ask Lancia), but, as one Morgan Stanley analyst eulogised, he turned a $2 billion (£1.5bn) company into a $72bn (£54.8bn) one. His greatest achievement was merging Chrysler, plucked from the brink of collapse, and Fiat – the pair the most unlikely of bedfellows. But he found and…

“The next-gen R8 will be solely an electric car, making it a radically different proposition from today’s” Audi will reinvent the R8 as an electric supercar in 2022 – a move that will spell the end for the use of V10 engines by the firm. V10s have been a staple of Audi’s most exciting performance models over the past couple of decades. However, the adoption of the all-electric drivetrain for the third generation of its range-topping supercar highlights two unstoppable trends: the rise of electric power and the end of big, high-revving, normally aspirated engines being used without electrical assistance. Audi is also winding down the use of V8 engines, with the latest RS4 and RS5 models switching to downsized turbo V6s, leaving the bigger V8s as the preserve of the most potent…

Sad but inevitable: Audi wants to make EVs sexy and reduce the average emissions of its range so makes its sexiest car emissions free. A shame? In a way. But with every R8 since the very first, Audi has gradually fattened and diluted its mid-engined supercar. That first V8 was so good, so agile, so communicative and so deft-riding that it won our Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest in 2007. The V10 made it heavier and therefore worse and more expensive, so it has never been close since. So the shame isn’t necessarily the death of the V10, but that the R8 had lost much of what made it so brilliant the first time around.…

SURELY THERE CAN be no tougher car company group to run, let alone fix, than Fiat, with its eclectic great brands typically lacking great cars in recent years, and a penchant historically to find scandal and crisis where none should exist. Yet Sergio Marchionne, who died suddenly last week (p16), ensured Fiat has not just survived but also thrived to a state where it is one of the world’s leading car companies. He had a love of business before cars, which hasn’t always gelled with enthusiasts (ask Lancia), but, as one Morgan Stanley analyst eulogised, he turned a $2 billion (£1.5bn) company into a $72bn (£54.8bn) one. His greatest achievement was merging Chrysler, plucked from the brink of collapse, and Fiat – the pair the most unlikely of bedfellows. But…

Audi R8 Le Mans Prototype 2000 The race car that inspired the R8 road car was launched in 2000 and promptly won that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. It went on to take five Le Mans wins in six years, from 2000 until 2005. Audi Le Mans Quattro concept 2003 To celebrate a Le Mans hat-trick (at the time), Audi showcased this aluminium spaceframe concept car, powered by a 601bhp twin-turbo V10, at the Frankfurt motor show. Work began on a production version soon after. Audi R8 Mk1 2006 Taking its name from the Le Mans racer, the first-gen R8 road car shared architecture and components with the Lamborghini Gallardo and was propelled by a 4.2-litre V8 from the RS4. V10 engines and a Spyder version followed. Audi R8 E-tron 2015 The first R8 E-tron prototype was shown in 2010, but…

“The next-gen R8 will be solely an electric car, making it a radically different proposition from today’s” Audi will reinvent the R8 as an electric supercar in 2022 – a move that will spell the end for the use of V10 engines by the firm. V10s have been a staple of Audi’s most exciting performance models over the past couple of decades. However, the adoption of the all-electric drivetrain for the third generation of its range-topping supercar highlights two unstoppable trends: the rise of electric power and the end of big, high-revving, normally aspirated engines being used without electrical assistance. Audi is also winding down the use of V8 engines, with the latest RS4 and RS5 models switching to downsized turbo V6s, leaving the bigger V8s as the preserve of the…