What we know about the future of the Audi TT & Audi R8 [Update]

• Future of the Audi TT
• No direct successor planned for the Audi TT
• Next-gen Audi R8/Audi R8 successor
• TopElectricSUV says

Update: ‘Next-gen Audi R8/Audi R8 successor’ section updated and ‘TopElectricSUV says’ section added.

Audi is increasing focus on electrifying volume cars, and in the next phase, several unconventional models are to join this lineup. But amidst the accelerated carbon-neutralization efforts, the direction of current niche models like the Audi TT and Audi R8 is not straightforward.

To remain relevant to Audi’s carbon-neutral future, the TT and R8 will need to become battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Oliver Hoffmann, BoM member responsible for Technical Development, Audi, has confirmed that the company is developing new sports cars and they will be electric. Keeping these products profitable may call for radical changes to their body styles as well, as discussed in this story.

The future will be fully electric. We intend to come up with some surprises again (after the TT and R8) and we are working on sports car concepts that will probably (be) fully electric, however. And all I can say is we will surprise and thrill.

Oliver Hoffmann, BoM member responsible for Technical Development, Audi (Annual Media Conference 2022 on March 17, 2022)

Future of the Audi TT

Talking about the Audi TT successor at the company’s annual press conference in March 2021, Hoffmann, suggested that we may see a new type of concept as its preview in the coming months. He said:

The Audi TT is really a very special model for the Audi brand, and we are very happy about the fact that it’s so popular with customers. The Audi TT has a very high share in its segment, however, in a shrinking segment. At the moment, we are closely analyzing what this means for a TT successor, but we are working to create a really emotional sports car successor concept, and I will be happy at one of the next of these conferences to tell you a bit more about it.

Oliver Hoffmann, BoM member responsible for Technical Development, Audi (Audi Annual Press Conference 2021)

At the same event, Hildegard Wortmann, BoM member responsible for Sales and Marketing, Audi, indicated that the company will continue selling the current-gen TT for some more time. She said:

One has to clearly say that the Audi TT is our sporty design icon and naturally it’s been an important model that supports our image and it will stay so for the next few years. We have so many plans for the product upgrade with a new equipment line, competition plan, we have special model Bronze selection with Audi Sport GmbH. So with all of this, we will make sure that for quite a while it will remain really attractive.

Hildegard Wortmann, BoM member responsible for Sales and Marketing, Audi (Audi Annual Press Conference 2021)

During the company’s annual general meeting in 2019, Bram Schot, the previous Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi, said that the company would replace the TT with an emotive electric car at the same price. Later, in an interview in October 2020, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann told auto motor und sport that the TT is unlikely to have a direct successor.

Audi has presented the brand’s future design direction with a trio of Audi Sphere concept models in 2021 and 2022: the Audi skysphere, Audi grandsphere, and the Audi urbansphere. An Audi activesphere concept will join them in 2023.

No direct successor planned for the Audi TT

Hoffmann has told Auto Express (in the 2021 Christmas double issue edition) that there’s no plan to launch a new-generation TT as an electric compact sports car. The dwindling sales of two-door vehicles and smaller cars is partly responsible for the decision. The next-gen TT has to be an emotional car that fascinates and surprises customers, and a direct replacement “is not the answer,” he said. A battery-powered TT won’t be easy to handle, the R&D boss explained.

According to the British publication’s sources, the indirect replacement for the TT will be a larger car, with four-door practicality and cloaked by a more aggressive roofline than the A3 or A4. Auto Express sounds confident that a compact, four-door grand tourer could take the place of the TT in the Audi lineup. It speculates that the car could use modules of the MEB and PPE platforms.

Hoffman talked about the Mk3 TT replacement with Auto Express again in March 2022, reaffirming Audi doesn’t plan to launch a direct TT successor and saying that a battery-powered TT “is not easy to handle.” Moreover, this time he suggested that the company may use the opportunity to launch the new type of replacement with a different positioning. Company sources indicate the Mk3 TT successor will be a larger model.

Video Source: youtube.com/Audi Japan

Next-gen Audi R8/Audi R8 successor

The R8 is the sports icon in our product portfolio. It’s extremely important for our image, for the sporty positioning of the brand, and it still has a great appeal and fascination. Similar to the TT, as I said before, we are discussing different concepts for potential successor to the R8. At the moment, no definite decision has been taken yet, but to us, it’s clear that in future we have to rethink the concept of a sports car and we are really focusing on it now.

Oliver Hoffmann, BoM member responsible for Technical Development, Audi (Audi Annual Press Conference 2021), on the successor of the R8

As for the succession plan for the R8 successor, Audi will be taking its time. On September 12, 2022, Autocar published a report saying that the company hasn’t signed off an R8 successor yet. However, it will launch an R8 successor in the middle of the decade, one that is a completely different-looking, electric supercar, as per the British media report.

The Audi electric supercar replacing the R8 could share the SSP Sport platform with the next-gen Porsche Panamera and next-gen Porsche Taycan. Another possibility is borrowing the Porsche Sports Car platform from the first-ever Porsche 718 electric and first-ever Porsche 911 electric. This platform can enable a simulated mid-engined supercar experience, with batteries vertically stacked behind the seats.

Linda Kurz, Head of Product Marketing, Audi Sport, had also talked about a potential R8 successor. On December 8, 2021, speaking to CNET Roadshow, Kurz said that “transforming the R segment” will be Audi Sport’s “next challenge.” Further, she said that this segment “is going to be fully electric.” Like Wortmann, Kurz indicated that the next performance flagship of Audi, will have to be electric. Audi would continue in the R segment, be it with an R8 or a new model. In other words, there will be something for buyers to choose above the RS e-tron GT.

Audi could launch a more conventionally-designed sportscar as the successor to the R8. Pictured is a rendering by SRK Designs (via YouTube) as an illustration.

In April 2021, Wortmann told topgear.com that “a successor to the R8 won’t just be an R8 with an electric motor.” “It needs to be an R8 but different,” she added. Discussing the future of the R8 in the auto motor und sport interview, Duesmann had echoed the same view stating that “it will certainly not stay the way the car is currently designed.”

TopElectricSUV says

The TT and R8 are emotional brands, both with a strong fan following globally, and many look to the used car market to realize the dream of owning them. Back in Ingolstadt, Audi must have held frequent discussions about their successors. As Audi goes all-electric with the e-tron sub-brand across segments, and sales of two-door cars plummet, it adds some complication to continue the TT nameplate in the electric era. However, the fact that generations of car enthusiasts have a soft corner compels us to believe that the TT and the R8 will somehow reinvent themselves with electric motors!

Featured Image Source: Audi

Sagar Parikh Web Editor

With a Master’s Degree in Business Management & Administration, I’ve been working as an International Automotive News Editor since 2014, and have gained a wealth of knowledge and insight into hybrid and electric vehicles.

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