Sometimes, the worst part about taking a vacation is renting a car. You spend your hard-earned money to get away from the stresses of daily life only to encounter long lines, hidden fees, and little in the way of engaging transportation. Audi can help with that. The German automaker is sponsoring the Emmy Awards again this year, and to celebrate, the brand is teaming up with Airbnb to give a lucky few the vacation of a lifetime, no rental car needed.
Starting on September 18, Airbnb will begin taking reservations for the gorgeous Rondolino Residence in Death Valley, Nevada, but even though the home itself is stunning, it’s not the most alluring aspect of the trip. That’s because a 2017 Audi R8 V10 Plus Coupe will be waiting for you outside, and you’ll have 80 acres of dry lakebed as your personal supercar playground. You don’t get that at Enterprise.
“Travel on Airbnb is all about experiences that liven up your sense of adventure and ultimately become a way of life,” said Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall. “We love that Audi shares that same spirit and are excited to offer this experience with them to those who live to drive, live to travel and live to adventure.”
As if the car and residence weren’t enough, booking the Rondolino Residence comes with a full VIP treatment courtesy of Audi, which includes a luxury chauffeur from the airport, meals prepared by a personal chef, and a myriad of evening activities and entertainment. The house itself is quite secluded, in fact it doesn’t even have an address — the only way to find it is by using GPS coordinates.
Read more: Audi’s RS7 Performance is a secret supercar disguised as a luxury car
Audi and Airbnb will offer seven three-day guest stays in October for $610 a night, with reservations being taken on a first come, first served basis. The first booking day will be September 18, with a new set of dates being released each day after at 6 p.m. PT until September 24. For more information on the trip, click here, and if you’d like to know more about the R8, check out our full review.
Bucket lists, you’ve met your match.
Volkswagen’s newest EVs in China are making its American and European models look unusually conservative.
With Xpeng’s help, VW has introduced 800-volt charging and advanced urban driving assistance. The new VEGA technology package brings its locally developed vehicle platforms and CEA electronic architecture under one umbrella. Bloomberg reports that Volkswagen intends to update VEGA every three months. Western buyers can find pieces of that package, but not the whole thing in a Volkswagen.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?