The quad-ring obsessives over at Fourtitude have the inside scoop on what Audi plans to unveil in Detroit this January, and enthusiasts stand to benefit from a duo of performance products in the form of an R8 concept and what’s likely to be the production version of the TT-S.
Audi’s midship masterpiece has only been on the market a few months, but it’s been all but confirmed that bigger things are on the way. The rendering above was supposedly released to a handful of lucky press outlets a few weeks back and it obviously foretells a future convertible variant of the R8.
Tags: Car Parts, Concept Cars, Convertibles, Coupes, Supercars, Audi
These newest shots are some of the clearest we’ve seen yet, including several interior pictures that show a well-appointed cabin with an iDrive-like wart sitting below the gear lever. There’s a lot of 5-series in the exterior, particularly the trunk lid and much of what’s aft of the C-pillar, while we get a distinctly Toyota Crown feeling from the front end, hood and roofline.
In a move that only serves to prove how competitive the full-size truck market is in the U.S., Dodge will reportedly be swapping out traditional leaf springs in the rear suspension of its redesigned 2009 Dodge Ram in favor of a new coil sprung rear axle. The move may seem counter intuitive, as leaf springs have long been the go-to gear for rear suspensions in pickups due to their heavy duty nature that allows for greater towing and payload capacity. Dodge, however, appears least interested among its competitors in going after best-in-class towing and payload ratings. The current Ram 1500 tops out with an 8,750 lb. maximum tow rating, far below the 10,000 lb.+ ratings of its cross-town rivals and the Toyota Tundra.
