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Motorsport

Next-Gen Audi RS7 Spotted Disguised as S6 Sedan with Wide Fenders and Unusual Exhaust

New spy images have emerged of a heavily camouflaged Audi sedan undergoing testing. Upon closer inspection, the photos reveal the presence of wide fenders, raising questions about the upcoming model’s identity, particularly considering Audi’s plans to reposition its lineup.

Beneath the camouflage, the vehicle appears to be a standard Audi S6. However, the wider fenders hint at the possibility of a more powerful drivetrain lurking beneath the sheet metal. While some sources speculate that this may be the next-generation RS7, it’s worth noting that Audi currently only offers the RS7 as a liftback, whereas the car observed in the spy shots appears to be a sedan.


News

Watch: Riding Through The Cariboo Chilcotin Coast In British Columbia

The Motorcycle Travel Channel has been on a road trip for almost two months, starting from Arizona and now reaching British Columbia. This is the 29th episode of the series, but the 21st episode is particularly interesting as it showcases a variety of things to see and do.

It took 21 episodes for the channel to reach British Columbia, and in the latest video, episode 29, the host, Sterling, is close to completing his trip. Currently in Arizona, the exploration of British Columbia is captivating and definitely worth watching.

Sterling’s videos on his BMW motorcycle are filled with breathtaking scenery, highlighting the natural beauty that Canada has to offer. While camping has been a major part of the trip, Sterling has also enjoyed the hospitality of inns and small hotels along the way.

Episode 21 of the series shows some unfortunate mishaps with Sterling’s equipment, such as a pannier and a monopod getting damaged due to an unplanned tip-over. However, these incidents have only emphasized the theme of “minimalism” that Sterling has embraced throughout his journey.

The video showcases stunning shots of the Fraser River and takes viewers on a journey through the Fishing Highway (Highway 24), which is connected to various lakes. Overall, the rest of the video provides a visual treat for adventure enthusiasts.

The remainder of the video continues to impress with stunning visuals. To catch up on the series, check out the latest upload from the Motorcycle Travel Channel on YouTube. Sterling is now back in Arizona, concluding an amazing trip that spanned thousands of miles, required hundreds of liters of fuel, and offered countless breathtaking sights.

ToyotaUk

Celebrating Father’s Day: Working with Dad — Toyota Employee Stories

When it comes to being close, these fathers and their adult children tell how their Toyota work bond has brought them lasting memories.

Providing, Just Like Dad

  • Father: Darrell Brock, Body Weld Seibi manager, Production Engineering and Manufacturing (PEMC); 34 years at Toyota
  • Son: Craig Brock, senior engineer, Internal Logistics Engineering, PEMC; 7 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your father?

Craig Brock: I’m thankful for having peace of mind in providing a future for my daughter the same way my father provided for me.

What’s your greatest work memory with your father?

When I was able to show my father my Toyota badge.

Supporting One Another

  • Father: Walter Burroughs, senior engineering manager assembly, PE VMC, Toyota Mississippi; 28 years at Toyota
  • Daughter: Kristen Burroughs, Corporate Communications analyst, Toyota Mississippi; one year at Toyota
  • Son: Brad Burroughs, strategic planning senior analyst, Toyota Logistics Services (TLS); 12 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your father?

Kristen Burroughs: Being able to discuss and relate to one another’s work life. For my dad, he loves knowing that his kids have valued his time and dedication to Toyota and saw what a great company it is to pursue our careers as well. All three of us also serve/served in the U.S. military.

What’s your greatest work memory with your father?

Having my dad by my side while I spoke to employees on Veterans Day about my experiences. He also showed up for me during my first planned event at Toyota Mississippi, which was a holiday toy drive/grant presentation for the Salvation Army.

Following in His Footsteps

  • Father: Monty Hagstrom, group manager, chief production engineer, PEMC; 28 years at Toyota
  • Daughter: Morgan Kennard, project manager, Safety, PEMC; 7 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your daughter?

Monty Hagstrom: Besides getting to see each other while in the office, we have a common goal to contribute to the success of the company while sharing common core values in how we approach our daily tasks.

What’s your greatest work memory with your daughter?

The day she was hired full time. I knew she would be working for a great company that would support her development and value her contribution. Following in my footsteps was a great feeling as well!

Like Father, Like Son

  • Father: Phil Nunn, safety analyst, Toyota Logistics Services (TLS) Princeton; 28 years at Toyota
  • Son: Phillip Andrew Nunn, production association track team member, TLS Princeton; Less than one year at Toyota 

What’s the best thing about working with your son?

Phil Nunn: Andrew gets to experience the type of work I did for 11 years as a production employee at TLS.

What’s your greatest work memory with your son?

When Andrew first applied his “Critical Eye for Safety” at work.

Growing a Bond

  • Father: Donnie Johnson, production group leader, Plant Chassis 2, Toyota Kentucky; 28 years at Toyota
  • Son: Triston Taylor Johnson, skilled team leader, Stamping, Toyota Kentucky; 3 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your son?

Donnie Johnson: We’ve always bonded with sports, now we have things that are happening at work to talk about, too. I also get to see him more now than I did when he was a teenager.

What’s your greatest work memory with your son?

When Taylor was promoted to team leader.

Family, Friends and Colleagues

  • Father: Lance Brittle, manager, Dealer Facilities Operations, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA); 35 years at Toyota
  • Daughter: Maggie Brittle, manager, Marketing Communications and Operations, Toyota Credit Corporation; 12 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your father?

Maggie Brittle: The best thing? Guilting him into buying me lunch! In all seriousness, working at the same company as my dad has been a blessing. Growing up, I admired him for his dedication to Toyota and passion for his work. He started at Toyota because he had a dream of doing more for his family. He took a huge risk by leaving a steady job as a mechanic and leaving his hometown to relocate to California, and I will forever be grateful for his courage to face the unknown. Working at Toyota with my dad has provided me with the incredible experience of knowing my dad, not just for being an awesome father, but for being a dependable, loyal and dedicated part of a larger team.

What’s your greatest work memory with your father?

When we attended the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show for the first time together. When I found out he was going to be attending as well, it dawned on me that this was the first time that our corporate paths had actually crossed. We were both working Toyota booths, and at one point I realized that no one else in my family would ever have the opportunity to see my dad like this. It was also the first time he got to see me in a professional setting. We left that event with a better understanding that our relationship was now both professional and personal, and it helped me build a friendship with my dad as an adult.

Proud Father and Son

  • Father: Dwayne Beisel, VMO Operations manager, TMNA; 29 years at Toyota
  • Son: Collin Beisel, Commerce content platform manager, TMNA; 6 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working together?

Collin Beisel: It was great to be able to get lunch or coffee with each other when we both worked on site. Now it’s just nice to have a family member to bounce things off of and someone that understands the way things work in OneTech.

Dwayne Beisel: When we were both at headquarters, I enjoyed having lunch with Collin regularly and periodically passing him in the hallways.

What’s your greatest work memory?

Collin: It’s always nice when someone recognizes my name and already has a positive association with it due to a relationship with my dad.

Dwayne: Hearing from my peers about what a fine young man my son is and the great work he does. It makes me even more proud of him and to be his father.

A Bright Future

  • Father: Kevin Newell, Body Weld Production manager, Toyota Kentucky; 24 years at Toyota
  • Son: Tyler Newell, skilled group leader, Plastics-Maintenance, Toyota Kentucky; 7 years at Toyota
  • Son: Tevis Newell, team leader, TL Powertrain, Toyota Kentucky; 3 years at Toyota

What’s the best thing about working with your sons?

Kevin Newell: The pride that our family feels working for such a great company and being able to not only have contributed to past successes but also working toward future ones as well.

What’s your greatest work memory with your sons?

Seeing my sons achieving their career goals and be recognized for their successes.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen: Brand Group Volume doubles operating profit in first quarter 2023

The Volkswagen Group’s Brand Group Volume further strengthened the close cooperation between the sister brands Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in the first quarter of 2023. To take account of this successful development and the significance of the Brand Group Volume in the ongoing transformation of the Volkswagen Group, the four volume brands are publishing their key financial metrics for the first time in a Brand Group Volume quarterly report.

The brand group’s positive development towards greater efficiency and profitability in the volume segment is reflected in particular by the operating profit before special items, which doubled compared with the prior-year quarter, coming in at EUR 1.74 billion (Q1 2022: EUR 0.88 billion), and by a sharp increase in the Brand Group Volume’s operating return on sales from 3.6 percent in the first quarter of the previous year to 5.3 percent in Q1/23. There was also a sharp increase in consolidated sales revenue, which grew 36 percent to EUR 33.16 billion (Q1 2022: EUR 24.36 billion), while net cash flow was EUR 1.7 billion (Q1 2022: EUR 0.5 billion), thus reflecting the good first-quarter performance.

Unit sales in the first quarter of 2023 increased 30 percent to 1.19 million vehicles (Q1 2022: 0.92 million vehicles). The full-electric model range accounts for an ever-larger share of deliveries. In total, the Brand Group Volume delivered 97,100 full-electric vehicles in the first quarter of the year, 49 percent more than in the prior-year quarter.

“Strong brands, lean engine room: targeted cooperation between the brands enabled us to expand existing synergies and scaling benefits in the past few months and at the same time increase our financial robustness and innovation strength. The Brand Group Volume’s key figures prove we are on the right track,” Thomas Schäfer, Member of the Volkswagen Group Board of Management in charge of the Brand Group Volume, said.

Overview of key figures for the Brand Group Volume:

Key figures

Brand Group Volume Q1 2023 (+development)

Brand Group Volume Q1 2022

Unit sales

1,193,000 vehicles (+30 %)

918,000 vehicles

Sales revenue

EUR 33.16 billion (+36 %)

EUR 24.36 billion

Operating profit before special items

EUR 1.74 billion (+99 %)

EUR 0.88 billion

Operating return on sales before special items

5.3 % (+1.7 %pp)

3.6%

Net cash flow

EUR 1.7 billion

EUR 0.5 billion

Four strong brands lay basis for strong performance by Brand Group Volume
The convincing Q1 performance by the Brand Group Volume is also due to the successful development of the individual brands Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The Volkswagen brand reported a slight upward trend in deliveries. The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand handed over a total of 1.02 million passenger cars to customers worldwide in the first quarter of 2023 (+ 0.9 percent). Full-electric vehicles accounted for a large share of this success: with unit sales of some 70,000 vehicles, the brand accounted for just under half of all BEVs delivered by the Group (+31.2 percent). Despite the challenging environment and persistent supply constraints, operating profit before special items in the first quarter of 2023 came in at EUR 608 million, an improvement on the figure for the prior-year quarter (EUR 513 million). Sales revenue rose from EUR 14.9 billion (Q1 2022) to EUR 20.5 billion (Q1 2023). This positive trend was in part offset by factors such as significantly higher material costs as well as exchange rate effects. As a result, the brand’s operating return on sales before special items in the first three months of the current fiscal year stood at 3.0 percent, 0.5 percentage points lower than the corresponding quarter in 2022.

Škoda Auto reported a strong first quarter and delivered 209.600 vehicles to customers worldwide (+12.6 percent). The all-electric Enyaq iV family was particularly successful, with deliveries rising by over 40 percent. The traditional Czech brand generated sales revenue of EUR 6.8 billion, up 33.3 percent on the same period in 2022. Operating profit before special items also increased by over 60 percent to EUR 542 million. At 8.0 percent, the return on sales was at a high level.

SEAT/CUPRA grew the number of electric vehicles delivered between January and March 2023 more than fourfold (+318.9 percent) to 9,200 units. Overall, SEAT/CUPRA delivered 125,218 vehicles in Q1/23.37 percent more than in the prior-year quarter (91,407), making this SEAT’s strongest first quarter ever. The company reported an operating profit of EUR 144 million for the period January – March 2023, an improvement of EUR 139 million on the first quarter of 2022. The operating return on sales in Q1/23 rose to 4.0 percent. Thanks to high demand and improved components supply, sales revenue increased to EUR 3.6 billion (+48.2 percent compared with the prior-year quarter).

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles continued the positive business trend of 2022 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. Deliveries grew 18.7 percent to 97,189 vehicles. Q1/23 was the first full business quarter for the ID.Buzz since its market launch, lifting deliveries of all VWN BEV vehicles to 5,500 units (Q1 22: 700 BEVs). Sales revenue rose to just under EUR 3.6 billion, driven by positive pricing and mix effects. Even though the market and supplier situation remained tense, operating profit before special items soared to EUR 171 million (Q1/22: EUR 46 million). In line with these figures, the operating return on sales increased from 2 percent in the first quarter of the previous year to 4.8 percent.

Outlook
The Brand Group Volume is the crucial lever for financial robustness, synergies and innovation in the Volkswagen Group – and bolsters resilience against external challenges. Based on effective management of the Brand Group Volume with lean structures, the focus is on reducing complexity – and the systematic leveraging of existing synergy potential. The central performance indicator for Brand Group Volume is a consolidated operating return on sales of 8 percent from 2025. For the 2023 fiscal year, the brand group already expects a consolidated operating return on sales significantly higher than the 3.6 percent posted for 2022.