Autocar November 10, 2021

WHEN WILL AN electrified car win the greatest award that Autocar bestows on anything with four wheels? That’s something to ponder as you take in the highlights of the three-day, 20-page epic that we call Britain’s Best Driver’s Car (p40). The odds are changing rapidly. A year ago, the electric Porsche Taycan Turbo S was fancied by some, but finished sixth. This year, we had two plug-in hybrids in our 11-car line-up, and one of them did rather better than sixth. The cars that have been good enough to make the BBDC shootout prove, at least to me, that it’s not a question of the weight, power density and maturity of batteries and electric motors: it’s about who’s applying them. When the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren and Lotus make…

As Audi gears up to launch its final internal-combustion car in just five years’ time, the race is on to transition its Audi Sport division into an electric-only performance brand. Audi Sport’s portfolio of petrol and diesel cars is larger than ever before, comprising uprated S and RS-badged versions of every model in Audi’s ICE line-up except for the A1 Sportback supermini. The hot E-tron GT, however, remains its only electric RS offering. The hot versions of the E-tron and E-tron Sportback SUVs wear just an S badge and the division has yet to show more potent derivatives of the new Q4 E-tron and Q4 E-tron Sportback. That trend is set to reverse rapidly in line with Audi’s wider plans to offer more than 20 electric models worldwide by 2025…

It was winter 1976 when Jörg Bensinger watched on helplessly as a Volkswagen Type 183 military vehicle showed up his more powerful front-driven Audi prototypes on Scandinavian ice. This prompted him to initiate the four-wheel-drive development programme that would result in Quattro, which made Audi the byword for all-weather performance. The problem for Audi is that Quattro has also been a byword for nose-led handling and understeer at the limits. That has been true both for the proper Quattro models with longitudinal engines and mechanical centre differentials and the cheaper Haldex cars, in which the rear axle is joined to the transverse engine only once the front wheels begin to slip. This mattered because, when developing their own four-wheel drive systems, Mercedes-Benz and BMW quickly caught up with Audi in…

1980 Quattro The first rally car to take advantage of the relaxed WRC regulations allowing four-wheel drive to be used, the Quattro won countless rallies and pioneered the layout used by many future title-winning cars. 1994 RS2 Avant The genesis of Audi’s RS models, this quick yet practical Porschedeveloped estate was faster from 0-30mph than the McLaren F1, thanks to its effective Quattro four-wheel drive system. 2002 RS6 Available as a sleek saloon or a roomy estate, the first RS6 set the precedent for Audi’s legendary Q cars. The limited-run RS6 Plus featured a 473bhp Cosworth-developed V8 that was good for 174mph. 2006 R8 Named after Audi’s Le Mans-winning prototypes, the R8 was the firm’s first proper supercar. Available with a V8 at launch and a V10 later on, it…

Jaguar Land Rover has posted a £302 million loss from July to September with the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage resulting in tens of thousands of lost sales – but it has forecasted a recovery by this time next year. The British firm, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, sold 92,700 cars in the second financial quarter of 2021, compared with 114,000 in the same period last year. That was reflected in reduced revenues of £3.9 billion. The £302m loss compared with a £110m loss in the three months from April to June this year. Defender sales rose by 70.4% last quarter to 16,725 – roughly three times the number of Discovery sales. JLR blamed the sales shortfall on its supply issues caused by the ongoing shortage of chips…

Jaguar Land Rover has entered an ‘emissions pool’ with Tesla and Honda to ensure it avoids financial penalties for missing the European Union’s and the UK’s CO2 emissions targets. The firm claimed that it had been on track to meet its compliance targets based on demand but the semiconductor shortage had disproportionately affected the production of low-or zero-emissions electrified cars. JLR has an agreement with Tesla to extend its deal into 2022 if required. While JLR hasn’t said how much it paid the EV maker to join the pool, it noted that it had been able to reduce its compliance reserves by £52m to £37m. JLR has also set aside £59m for 2021 to continue buying ‘emissions credits’ in both the US and China.…