High five! Audi RS 3 and TT RS set to return
Production break forced by WLTP is over, hot inline-fives will be back by 2020The Audi RS 3 and TT RS will become available in Australia again by early 2020 after a year’s break.
Production of the turbocharged five-cylinder fliers was halted because of a WLTP real-world fuel consumption testing backlog of Audi engines and transmissions.
Production is already back underway for Europe after testing, some software changes and a re-homologation of the growling 294kW/480Nm five-cylinder engine and its dual-clutch transmission.
But overseas markets must wait longer. There is substantial demand for the Audi RS 3 in places such as Japan, New Zealand as well as Australia.
The Audi RS 3 Sportback and sedan are by far the most popular Audi Sport model in Australia, where they have also accounted for up to one third of A3 sales.
“There was a production break as of last year because of WLTP,” confirmed Audi Australia spokesman Shaun Cleary.
“Production resumed in the first half of this year, but our models will arrive either late this year or early 2020.”
Cleary wouldn’t be drawn on any potential equipment changes, but made it clear the RS 3 would be fundamentally identical, which is good news judging by carsales.com.au reviews.
“There’s been a lot of interest in the RS 3 [while it’s been off-sale],” confirmed Cleary.
“It is a very popular car and we had a good supply of stock because we knew the production delay was coming late last year.
“We ran out of stock in the first quarter [of 2019].”
The Audi TT RS will go on sale after an update of the TT and TT S in August or September.
Meanwhile, the I5 engine, which traces its heritage back to the 1970s, is destined to live on for some years yet, with work underway to meet the Euro 7 emissions regulations that come into effect in Europe around 2020.
“For EU7 we have concepts for all our engines, but it’s just a matter of how much money I have to spend to reach the targets,” Audi Sport chief Oliver Hoffmann told Australia media last week. “For the five-cylinder we have a very, very, good concept to reach those standards.”
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