Monthly Archives April 2014

Engines that the Porsche Macan uses have big story behind it. The future Audi cars may share something common with Porsche regarding these engines.

Currently there are two petro engines for the Porsche Macan: a 3.0L and a 3.6L, both are twin-turbocharged. These two engines have the same bore size (96mm), but different stroke (3.0L is 69mm, 3.6L is 83mm). Because of the smaller bore/stroke ratio, the 3.0L engine is more suitable for high revving purpose.

The 3.0L engine plays an important role in global market because many countries have heavy tax regulations on large displacement engines. By using the 3...

From VW official press news, its Audi brand enjoyed a 21.1% sales growth for the Chinese market in the first quarter of 2014, total sales is 124,520 units. The hottest selling model is the A3 hatchback and sedan.

Audi has 2 factories in China, one in Changchun and another in Foshan. It is also the best selling luxury brand in China. During the full year of 2013, Audi sold 492,000 units, BMW sold 390,700 units and Mercedes-Benz sold 228,000 cars.

There are multiple factors that contribute to Audi’s success.

1. The most important reason is VW’s early entry in the Chinese market, and it is among the earliest foreign car makers that set up localized factories in China...

Last year, a SoCal man was missing for almost three weeks. Despite his relatives calling for the police to search for him, the man was not found until 15 days later, police notified them the missing man’s body and the wreck of his car was found in the bottom of a steep embankment near the city of Los Banos.

It was a woman on a tour bus that traveling westbound on Highway 152 near the San Luis Reservoir, spotted a vehicle 200 feet down an embankment, then she informed the police who finally found the missing man.

When police finally brought the wrecked car up from the enbankment, the driver had been dead for many days and his body was still tied on the seat.

Had his car h...

Back in February this year, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corporation (BAIC) acquired 25% equity ownership of Atieva – a lithium-ion battery manufacturer for electric cars based in Redwood City, California. BAIC currently is the largest shareholder of Atieva.

According to the agreement, Atieva will help BAIC to develop a mid-size electric luxury sedan comparable to the Audi A6L, within 3 years. If BAIC intends to enter the US market, clearly its main target will be the Tesla Model S.

The rumor started earlier this year, when one day BMW official website suddenly posted a page of the 720i model, then withdrawed that webpage shortly after.

Although no one inside BMW ever commented, denied or confirmed the existence of 720i, I still consider this model actually make a business case, not in US or north America, but in Europe and Asia, especially the Chinese market.

Perhaps still not widely known for US customers, BMW did create some very special version of their 3 and 5 series in the Chinese market: they have a long wheel base versions of the 3/5 sedans there.

For example as shown below, a 2014 model year 520Li (“Prestige” trim in the following photos), s...