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View Full Version : Audi / Lambo / Maserati links



Graeme
February 20th, 2004, 21:01
I was lucky enough this week to be in conversation with someone rather knowledgeable within the German auto industry. They had some clues ( or maybe guess’s – who knows ?) as to what might happen within Quattro GmbH about the future of the RS models.
His suggestions basically suggested that Audi would be come more cross fertilised with their other affiliate and partnership companies.
Basically, what It boiled down to was that Audi are likely to working with Lambo to use a retuned version of the V10 used in the Gallardo for an A6 model. This strikes right with previous information I’d heard in that Lambo had spent way more money on the development of the V10 engine than they could possibly ever hope to recoupe through the sales volume they’re predicting for the Gallardo over it’s 5 to 8 year model life. This would indicate that it was developed with other applications in mind….What else within VAG would / could use a 5 ltr performance V10 other than an RS model within Audi ( excluding Audi’s recent so-called super car launch, which I strongly believe was a marketing toy anyway and unlikely to ever see the production line )
The other concept he had was that as Audi has been working very closely on development with Maserati recently and that the Masser V8 and the platform used within their new Quatroporte model would make an ideal basis for a future Audi model. I have heard recently( and rather controversially ) that Audi are planning on scrapping off forced induction for the future RS4 and RS6 models, so with the Lambo V10 in the RS6, would the masser V8 go into the RS4, who knows ? With the current S4 being so powerful, the RS4 will need to be a significant leap ahead in figures and I cant imagine the current S4 V8 would be ‘Audi standard’ drivable in the state of tune required for 410 – 460ps - Plus. the Masser V8 is a peach.
This is obviously only unsubstantiated rumour, but I’m sure it makes good food for thought.
On a separate note, am I the only person who dislikes Audi’s new corporate nose on their recent models – I know Chris Bangle got promoted for his work on BMW, but are Audi looking for the same type of media attention ?
:asian: