Audi has already publicly revealed it will be showing two
vehicles at this year's North American International Auto Show in
Detroit. One it called a "stunning" concept car and the other is a
new production car making its world debut. One of the two cars will
reportedly be an Audi R8 powered by the brand's V12 TDI diesel
engine, this according to German mag Auto Motor und Sport. While
the R8 TDI is likely destined for production, it's probably not the
production car that Audi will debut in Detroit. If it's the
"stunning" concept, consider us stunned. The car is projected to
have around 500bhp/738 ft-lbs of torque, accelerate to 62 mph in
4.2 seconds and return 28 mpg, presumably on the highway. That's
truly outstanding fuel economy for a supercar, though Corvettes are
known to get above 30 mpg while lazily cruising this nation's
highways, as well. That said, the equally as powerful 2008 Corvette
Z06 is rated by the EPA as 15 city/25 highway mpg. Back to the R8
TDI, Auto Express also reports that since the V12 TDI is much
larger than the standard car's 4.2L V8, it will gobble up all
available luggage space just to fit. The R8 TDI's appearance in
Detroit certainly isn't confirmed by Audi yet, so we'll have to
wait until January 13th to see exactly what the German automaker
brought to town. We think, however, that it is a safe bet.
Links are here...
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/04/detroit-08-preview-v12-diesel-powered-audi-r8-tdi-to-be-unveil/
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/229835/
If only Singapore allows private owners to drive diesel powered
cars... fast and economical. 
