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Volkswagen chief: No. 1 in the world by 2018

Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn reaffirmed his company's ambitious and audacious goals on Wednesday night on the eve of the Paris motor show: pass Toyota and General Motors for the title of world's largest automaker in 2018. Winterkorn was the final speaker after an event that featured unveilings from each of the German conglomerate's brands. He said his company wants to record total sales of 10 million in eight years, which would vault it pass the current levels of global leaders Toyota and GM.

We like you, we just won't call you

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Audi Q5 concept is killer

Audi has provided the strongest hint yet that it plans to crown its Q5 lineup with an RS model by revealing a one-off, 408-hp, supercharged 3.0-liter V6 concept version of its compact SUV. The vehicle’s public premiere comes this weekend at the annual Woerthersee meet in Austria. Although Audi officials are playing down the importance of the custom concept, insiders have told AutoWeek that it was constructed to provide customer feedback on a possible performance-oriented version of the Q5, the likes of which would almost certainly form part of the company’s future North American lineup.