Audi RS5 2012 News

...to scope out Pikes Peak.

Battle lines are drawn in the luxury car market as Audi stuns with a massive $13,500 reduction in its hot-headed RS5 Coupe. Audi Australia spokesperson Anna Burgdorf says it’s all about being competitive. “We need, in Australia, to be competitive - everyone is doing it,’’ she says. “There is no question how competitive Australia’s car market has become. If we’re not flexible (on price and equipment), then we run the risk of losing sales to rivals - and we’re not going to do that." The heavy-hitter philosophy party answers why Audi has such a huge model range - “we have to offer the customer whatever they want," Burgdorf says - and why models such as the RS 5 are so important as halo cars. The RS5 presents a new concept for Audi - electromechanical steering - and standard equipment including Attention Assist (a driver alert system), a flat-bottomed steering wheel and an upgraded MMI central control now with Bluetooth streaming. There are some body highlights to identify this mid-life makeover, but the drivetrain remains the same - a 331kW/430Nm 4.2-litre V8 petrol attached to a seven-speed dual-clutch auto then driving all wheels. Neil Dowling is testing the car in Germany now and will report on its road manners later.  

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

The two-door newbie joins the existing C63 sedan and wagon that have made the V8-powered hotrod a long-term success in Australia, and contributed to one of the best AMG sales rates anywhere in the world. Previewed at the Australian International Motor Show, after a last- minute flight from Germany, the C63 Coupe is still more than two months away from local driveways and an inevitable local shootout with the rival BMW M3. But it is touting a powerplant with 336 kiloWatts and 600 Newton- metres in a two-door body that joins the regular C-Class lineup next month. Mercedes-Benz buyers are expected to rush to the new coupe - in both forms - but the company sees extra growth potential in the C63. "The reason we air-freighted that car to Australia for the show was because people wanted to see it. You don't pay the equivalent of three Qantas business-class airfares just to fill a spot on the stand," says David McCarthy, spokesman for Mercedes-Benz Austraslia. "There are people who want the Coupe. It's a spot that's been lacking in our range. The C63 comes in September, a month after the regular Coupe." While shoppers will line the C63 up against BMW's benchmark two-door M3, McCarthy is almost dismissive of the rival. "People see the coupe as a competitor to the M3, but we don't see it that way. It only sells about one-third of our C63 volume, so the M3 is only a niche player." AMG sales are continuing to boom through the first half of 2011 and the addition of the C63 is expected to produce a new record total at the end of the year. "It only depends on supply. Last year we did 507 C63s, with about 50 Estates, and we have more than 30 orders for the two-door. With the new Coupe I expect that last year's figure will be surpassed, but it's too early in the year to say." The motor show car was displayed in plain Diamond White, but there was plenty of colour at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre with a special CLS coupe in Le Mans red, and even a tiny Smart ForTwo in the Jaffa orange - part of a $5000 tickle - used for a special AMG CLK at last year's Sydney show. Away from the hotrod hero, Benz confirmed at the show that the starting price for the all-new SLK would be coming down by $10,000. Even so, it was a fully-loaded SLK 200 - with Fire Opal paintwork and the costly new high-tech 'sky roof' - that was rolled into the spotlight. "It just continues our price-value strategy. That's what customers want: more equipment and better value. We had an opportunity with that car, again, to provide that," says McCarthy. Pricing for the new C-Class Coupe is also set from less than $70,000 for the C250 CDI, with the promise of 5.1 litres/100km economy and CO2 emissions from 134 grams/kilometre. "The Coupe will come in August, complete with the new facia, transmission change and 1000-plus other improvements that have just come in the sedan. We're doing them all at once - sedan, wagon and then coupe," says McCarthy. No-one at Benz is naming the price for the racey red CLS, as the paint alone - applied on the company's G-Class four-wheel drive production line - cost an extra $30,000. The car, tweaked from the Designo catalogue, is likely to follow last year's Jaffa hero car into a special display and sales program after its time at the motor show.