New RS Q8 heads Audi Sport expansion

An expanded line-up of RS SUVs, range-wide electrification and a concerted effort to create its own visual identity are cornerstones of an aggressive Audi Sport growth plan.

Audi’s hot tuner will roll its first full-size performance SUV when it launches the RS Q8 late in 2019. It will join the second-generation RS Q3, also due to be shown this year.

New generation RS 6 Avant and RS 7 Sportback models will also be shown in 2019, while an updated RS 4 Avant is also not far away.

Audi Sport has long been a sales and image laggard compared to Mercedes-AMG and BMW M, but new managing director Oliver Hoffmann told Australian journalist in Europe last week his job is to change all that.

“We have permission to grow with Audi Sport in terms of volume, but also in terms of creating the strong brand,” he said

“We have a lot of support and we have the mandate to do it.

“In volume terms we will have the biggest model launch ever in our history in the next years … That means we will increase our sale numbers.

“For sure we are number three in terms of the sale volumes behind M and AMG, but we will close the gap in the next years … I am really looking forward to closing this gap in terms of volume and also the market share for M and AMG.”

Hoffmann offered little on the RS Q3 and RS Q8 apart from confirming their existence, but media reports have pointed to the former adding a Sportback model, while the latter was previewed by a concept at the Geneva show in 2017.

Sadly, Hoffmann did reveal an RS based on the popular Q5 to compete against the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 and BMW X3 and X4 M was not under development.

“There is no decision regarding an RS Q5,” he said.

Audi Sport’s electrification efforts will be spearheaded by the 2020 e-tron GT battery electric vehicle, which will be built alongside the conventional R8 sports car.

But Hoffmann made it clear Audi Sport would embrace all forms of electrification offered by Audi in production cars, including mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid and BEV.

“We will launch our e-tron GT as a full electric car at the end of 2020 and we will electrify all our models in the next years.

“We will launch the mild hybrids very soon, we will launch the full electric car end of 2020 and we will electrify our full range in the next years.

“We will look model by model and segment by segment which kind of electrification is right for each car and for each market.”

While Audi Sport already has the bespoke R8, almost all its models are tuned versions of regular Audi models.

Architectures and drivetrains will continue to be sourced from the VW Group, but Hoffmann said e-tron GT would be the first example of the separate identity Audi Sport was seeking to achieve.

“We will have in the future a higher differentiation of the Audi Sport cars.

“For us it is very important to develop a different car, a different exterior and interior design.

“The first concept will be the e-tron GT. We use the platform of the Porsche Taycan but this is a completely different car in terms of exterior and interior design.”