The editorial car selection

Audi A8 restyled

The eternal hunt for the S-Class

In the luxury limousine market, everyone is looking to catch up with the essential Mercedes S Class. At Audi, the A8 has taken on the role of flagship since 1994 and this 4^e generation launched in 2018, is fighting with the BMW 7 Series for runners-up in the category. Here it goes to the traditional mid-career restyling, with a grille more gaping than ever and a retouched presentation. The on-board technology is at the top and, under the hood, we find a wide range of hybrid, diesel and gasoline engines. The sporty top of the range, still embodied by the S8 known to fans of action films, remains at 571 hp via a 8 biturbo V4.0. Note the appearance of an ultra-high-end Horch series, in reference to the former Auto Union luxury brand. Rival of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, the latter will be marketed in China initially.

bugatti rimac

Electric coup d'état

Comme annoncé voilà quelques mois, Bugatti change de direction et de gestion. Détenue jusqu’ici à 100% par le groupe Volkswagen, la marque fait désormais partie d’une joint-venture montée avec Rimac, ce petit constructeur croate de supercars électriques qui collabore avec un grand nombre de marques sur la technologie hybride et électrique. Rimac contrôle 55% de Bugatti, les 45% restants appartenant à Porsche… qui possède par ailleurs 24% de Rimac. Mate Rimac, le fondateur et patron de la marque éponyme, a pris la direction de Bugatti en remplacement de Stephan Winkelmann qui se consacre désormais exclusivement à Lamborghini. Cette réorganisation annonce un gros changement de cap pour le constructeur de Molsheim, qui arrive à la fin de carrière de la Chiron et de son gros 16-cylindres quadri-turbo à essence. Les prochaines Bugatti profiteront très probablement de l’expertise de Rimac en termes d’électricité…

Tesla Model 3

Always stronger

Having become the best-selling car in Europe in September, the Tesla Model 3 is still improving technically. The basic Standard Range version swaps its 55 kWh battery for a new 60 kWh model, for the benefit of maximum autonomy. Still offered at the fantastic price of 43 euros, it now claims 800 km of autonomy according to the WLTP approval cycle compared to 491 km previously. The price does not increase, unlike the standard equipment: heated rear seats and steering wheel are now part of the basic equipment. In the rest of the range, the Long Autonomy and Performance versions do not change. They remain at 448 and 52 euros. Remember that the entry-level Model 990 benefits from an eco-friendly bonus of 59 euros (until 990^er July 2022), which partly explains the impressive number of examples that we come across on our roads.

Alpine A110 GTA Concept NFT

Fake news

Alpine officially unveils the A110 GTA, an extreme version of its pretty little sports car launched on the market in 2018. With a 6 hp flat 500-cylinder in the central rear position instead of the usual 4-cylinder, there is really enough to dream of a real competitor to the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, especially since the car benefits from a much more radical presentation than theAlpine basic. Unfortunately, this is a fairly opportunistic communication campaign, aimed at positioning the brand Alpine in the NFT niche in which we find almost the same speculators as that of cryptocurrencies. NFTs (Non-Fungible (Fungible ????) Token) allow you to become the owner of virtual objects. The goal is to bet on the increase in their value, as the buyers of the five copies of this A110 GTA placed on the virtual market will most likely do. Nothing very exciting anyway for fans of real sports cars.