Automotive News is reporting that Audi is set to lay down $1.1 billion to purchase Ducati from the motorcycle manufacturer’s current owner, Investindustrial. The news comes courtesy of a source “familiar with the matter,” though neither Audi nor Investindustrial have officially commented on whether that price is accurate. As Automotive News points out, the price is around seven times what Ducati earned last year before interest, taxes and depreciation – even after subtracting any debt Ducati holds. Currently, the motorcycle maker’s liabilities are less than $262.6 million. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Audi to decide on North American plant on Wednesday?
Automotive News reports Audi may make a decision on where the automaker plans to build a North American facility as soon as Wednesday of this week. The Volkswagen supervisory board is already scheduled to meet on April 18, and an unnamed source claims the new plant is on the agenda for discussion. Earlier reports indicated the manufacturer plans to build a new plant in Mexico, though Audi has been quick to denounce the notion, saying the board had yet to make a decision one way or the other. Publicly, Audi has made noise about locations in both Mexico and the United States. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Audi to announce Ducati acquisition next week?
According to at least one unnamed source, Audi’s purchase of Ducati is as good as done. Reuters reports that Audi has taken a good hard look at Ducati’s books and found “no major stumbling blocks.” Funk Flex
(Video) Auto Talk: Audi developing powertrain sound of the future for R8 e-tron
Audi knows sound, and it wants its upcoming plug-in cars to have as distinctive a grumble as possible, just like its fossil-fuel-burning brethren. That’s why Audi engineers are working on “new sound signatures” for future e-tron models. You can tell how seriously Audi is taking this by the way it references the sounds a car makes to music and “emotional sound structures” in the press release below. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Audi reveals Truth in 24 II is coming
Audi took the NFL Films crew to the 2008 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and with the footage gathered created the rather excellent documentary Truth in 24 (it’s still free to view on iTunes and YouTube). It turns out Audi took a crew to last year’s race as well, and soon we’ll be treated to the sequel, Truth in 24 II. Funk Flex
(Photo) @JimJonesCapo Flat Black Audi!!! Mean!!!!
Check out Jim Jones’ all flat black Audi looking like the bat mobile for real. Mean!!! Click below to see the pic. @WiLMajor
