Daily Archives: June 30, 2017
Audi A8 Appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming Premiere
Last Wednesday in Hollywood, California, the much-awaited movie “Spider-Man: Homecoming” made its world premiere. Capitalizing on that event was Audi with a live preview of its next-generation luxury sedan, the 2019 Audi A8.
Audi has been very secretive about the the A8. As we have said in our previous report, the car replaces the A6. The auto will be heavily-based on the 8-Series Concept shown at the 2017 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
In the photo above that was featured in Business Insider, the superhero Spider-Man is seen posing on the hood of the Audi A8. Despite the heavy camouflage of the prototype, it already gives us a better picture of the luxury car’s design.
The A8 appears to be sporting a new grille design as well as more advanced headlamps. A subtle adjustment in the styling of the bumper compared to the A6 is also evident. From the camouflaged prototype in the event, the A8 looks like it has a lot of features that we should be excited about.
According to the source, the A8 will be officially unveiled at the Audi Summit that will be held on Barcelona, Spain on July 11. For those who cannot wait for the debut of the car, rest assured that we will be on the lookout for possible leaks before its public launching.
The A8 will hit showrooms by next year. It will bear a 2019 model year.
The report said that the A8 will center on its maker’s active suspension system and it will have a mild hybrid setup. The car will be one of the automaker’s first vehicles to offer a fully-active, electromechanical suspension paired with a 48-volt electric power source.
All A8 models will likely carry six, eight or 12-cylinder engines. Partnered with an electric motor to deliver a hybrid power, the auto is expected to get a lot of horsepower.
In terms of technology, one of the key highlights of the A8 is Audi’s new infotainment technology, which will be more advanced than the brand’s virtual cockpit interface.
In addition, the on-board cameras of the car located in front can process new information and road conditions up to 18 times per second. The system will guide each corner of the car individually with its series wheel-mounted electric motors.
Lastly, the A8 comes with a rear-wheel steering function to deliver better high-speed stability and improve its maneuvering at low-speeds.
Production of Toyota Camry Starts in U.S.
The new Toyota Camry is ready to go on sale in the United States by summer. As of June 28, the first batch of the car already rolled out from the company’s production line in Georgetown, Kentucky.
According to Motortrend, the company used $1.33 billion for the assembly of the Camry under the Toyota New Global Architecture or TNGA. The architecture allows the automaker to reduce production costs by about 20 percent. The Camry is the first car of the brand to utilize the platform and technology provided by the TNGA.
The report said that Toyota hired additional 700 employees in line with the production of the Camry. The Kentucky plant has already produced more than 11 million vehicles, including 8 million Camrys. It is presently the largest plant of Toyota in the world. The facility builds the Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and the entry-level luxury car model, the Lexus ES 350.
The new Camry carries a 2018 model year. It was revealed at the 2017 Detroit Motor Show. The vehicle offers a facelifted exterior with bolder design coupled with lower center of gravity, quieter interior, more rigid body, more advanced safety features, new tech and more powerful gas engines. The petrol-fed models of the car is matched with the new eight-speed transmission of the automaker while its hybrid class gets a Continuously Variable Transmission or CVT.
The source noted that the Camry is the second best-selling model of Toyota in the U.S. during the first half of the year. The RAV4 is currently the brand’s most in demand passenger vehicle in the country.
As of the May data of the company, 147,434 Camrys were sold going back to the beginning of 2017. It’s a pretty decent figure but the report pointed out that the numbers are down by 12 percent compared to the record reflected during the same period of last year.
