Porsche Defeats Audi at 83rd Le Mans Endurance Sports-Car Race - Bloomberg

Porsche won the storied Le Mans 24-hour endurance sports-car race for the first time since 1998 with a defeat of Audi, which triumphed in 10 of the 11 prior contests . Porsche’s 919 Hybrid car took first and second places, while Audi’s R18 e-tron... The return of Porsche to Le Mans in 2014 after a 16-year hiatus and its subsequent victory Sunday underscore how Volkswagen is stoking in-house competition on and off the racetrack, even amid additional costs. Porsche and Audi each entered three vehicles in the fastest vehicle category, Le Mans Prototype 1, or LMP1. Maintaining a technological edge is vital for VW’s upscale brands, which also include Bentley and Lamborghini, as they vie for affluent customers with the likes of BMW AG and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz. Volkswagen, which has one of the largest research and development budgets of any publicly traded company, is investing 85. 6 billion euros ($96. 1 billion) through 2019 to add models and production capacity. Rising costs to develop electric cars and new digital features such as piloted driving are weighing on Volkswagen’s efforts to improve profitability, including a program announced a year ago to increase earnings at its namesake passenger-car brand... Source: www.bloomberg.com