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Audi dazzles with Laserlight concept

<b>AUDI QUATTRO …NOW WITH LASERS:</b> Audi will present its Sport quattro laserlight at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA. <i>Image: NEWSPRESS</i>
<b>AUDI QUATTRO …NOW WITH LASERS:</b> Audi will present its Sport quattro laserlight at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA. <i>Image: NEWSPRESS</i>
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Audi is presenting a fascinating concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show here... the Audi Sport quattro Laserlight concept is reminiscent of the 1983 Sport quattro.

Audi hopes to debut new technologies in plug-in hybrid drives, display interfaces and lighting technology.

Image gallery: Laserlight concept

The vehicle is 1.9m wide, 4.6m long, 1.3m tall and has a 2.7m.wheelbase.

PLUG-IN HYBRID

It's powered by a twin-turbo 405kW/700Nm four-litre V8 and a 110kW/400Nm electric motor with a combined output of 515kW and 800Nm.

The hybrid engine enables it to sprint to 100km/h in 3.7sec and on to a top speed of 305 km/h. Fuel consumption listed as 2.5 litres/100km with an electric driving range of 50km.

Drivers can choose from three modes - battery, hybrid and sport.

LASER HEADLIGHTS

The headlights combine MatrixBeam LED and laser light technologies. Two low-profile trapezoidal elements are visible within the headlights – the outer one generates low-beam light using MatrixBeam diodes and an aperture mask, the inner element laser light for high-beam.

According to Audi, the headlights Illuminate the road for nearly 500m, about twice the lighting range and three times the luminosity of high-beam diodes. The lighting technology will be used on race tracks in the 2014 R18 E-tron quattro.

Audi board member Ulrich Hackenberg said: “The new show car demonstrates technical ‘Vorsprung’ on many levels - E-tron technology with 515kW of power and 2.5 litres/100km; laser headlights that leave all previous systems in the dark and new display and operating systems with cutting-edge electronic performance.

“We are showing the future of Audi here.”

INSIDE

The car's cabin hints at the future of Audi design. The sport steering-heel has buttons to control the hybrid drive, stop/start, and multimedia.

Audi has partnered with graphics-card specialist Nvidia for its latest concept so the car has high-resolution, three-dimension graphics. Drivers can choose from display modes such as multimedia and classic.

The new user interface has a menu layout similar to that of a smart phone. According to Audi: “All frequently used functions can be accessed lightning-fast. For most inputs, just a few steps are needed thanks to a new free-text search feature; generally just four characters are sufficient for a navigation address.”

The driver can scroll through lists or zoom/enlarge maps using gestures on the touchpad. Voice controls have been intensively  developed.

Oh yes, and the boot can take 300 litres of luggage.

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