Which tells you just how far the automaker has come over the last decade.

And this is especially true since 2007. While much of the auto industry went into retrenchment mode, Audi put the pedal to the metal (some say the company put its foot on the throat of its competitors). As a result, U.S. sales rose from 93,506 in 2007 to 101,629 in the 2010 model year. It's difficult to argue with such success.

Introduced mid-year in 2011 as a 2012 model, the A7 Sportback 3.0 TFSI was the Ingolstadt-based automaker's somewhat belated response to the über-successful first-generation Mercedes-Benz CLS (the first of what is now a brace of stylish and luxurious four-door coupes). Audi used the time to great advantage, developing a design that is sporty yet eminently practical, with a hatchback opening barely discernable from its side profile. And under that electronically powered rear hatch, you'll find 18.9 cubic feet of luggage space; fold the rear seats and that jumps to 49.0 cubic feet.

In many ways, the A7 is a cross between the A6, with which it shares its modular chassis structure, and the A8, whose body is constructed mostly of aluminum. In the case of the A7, about 20 percent of its stylish clothes are constructed of the lightweight and