Spudgun VI

speaking to a mate of mine at an audi dealership recently, and he was telling me that theres going to be an audi coupe with a detuned twin turbo lemans engine, somewhere in the region of 400bhp as standard due next year.

is this true...or b0ll0cks?

hope its true need a sensible car to keep the evo company

GaryC

There was a concept car earlier this year that fitted that description, but it would take a damn sight more than a year to get to production, and with only 400bhp, logistics would suggest they would use the RS6 450bhp engine in any potential production version.

Sounds more like wishful thinking from an Audi dealer lamenting the lack of sports car in the range!

Reffro

There is going to be a Audi coupe with about 4-500bhp. It's being developed along side the new 'small' Lamborghini, and according to rumour will have a V10 engine. Price has not been mentioned but you've got to be looking at 80-90k. Forget about the Le Mans engine stuff, they may use some of its technology like the FSI direct injection, but that's about it.

Spudgun VI

****** how much! rather have an sl55 amg thingy for that!
not that i could afford it even if i wanted too

DaveS6

Yes.. think it will be called RSR.. don't know if you have seen the Avus concept but will look like that.

Rather than the RS6's 4.2 V8 bi-turbo I think they are using a V10, but information is scarce.

Dave

GaryC

The RSR concept doesn't (I don't think) look anything like the Avus. Good thing as when you look at the Avus now it looks very dated. Stunning when launched but hasn't aged well at all (but it is almost 10 yrs old!).

IIRC the RSR developed further the 'double grill' current Audi look to the extent it was a single grill getting back to the old AUto Union racers of the 50's.


I don't understand VAG. Where would the (potential) RSR fit? At £80-90k it already has/will have the 500bhp V10 baby Lambo for the performance variant and the 550bhp/700lb ft Bentley coupe for the safe/luxary/GT variant - where will the Audi fit?? Will HAVE to have a detuned version of the Lambo's V10 if at all, and is up against very stiff competition in any case - What would you rather have..? Ferrari 360, 911 Turbo, SL55/CL55/CL600, Baby Lambo, Bentley coupe....or an Audi

VAG have done a great job of improving their brands, but they are taking things a little far (VW's S-class 'competitor' for a start ) Stick with what you know and make it better!

Audi have struggled to make a truly great drivers car since the uR Quattro....walk before running??

Pavlo

for the same reasons that soap powder manufacturers sell 3-4 brands.

people think they are choosing brand x over brand y, but in reality they still spend their money with the same company.

Perhaps VAG want an Audi badged alternative to the Lambo, for people that don't want to buy an Italian car.

silly, but it works.

Paul

GaryC

I disagree (and I'm a marketing grad ). Soap brand rationale is correct, but that is an image free product/market.

Cars need identity. Think of any car (brand/manufactuer), it has an identity. It fits a segment/market. Audi had a good identity, have let it slip but are getting back as a BMW market competitor (and have taken half of BMWs suspension engineering team to improve their achillies heel!)

VAG have developed.are developing a good mix of identities.

VW - Quality-bias mass market (Merc competitor)
Audi - Sports-bias mass market (BMW competitor)
Seat - Performance-bias mass market (Alfa Romeo Competitor)
Skoda - Cheap mass market (Ford/Rover/Vauxhall competitor)
Lamborghini - Extreme performance niche market (Ferrari competitor)
Bugatti - Extreme sports/quality niche market (Aston Martin competitor)
Bentley - Extreme quality niche market (Rolls Royce competitor)

All markets covered, and all cars with identity (or going that way - it takes time). Can you think of a market missing from the above? or a manufacturer with two brands in the same market?

Dr Piech & more latterly Bernd Pied-whatever are clever. Not only are they the only manufacturer present in all markets, they are in the upper quartile of most!

But a £90k 400bhp Audi sports car still doesn't go

polarbearit

GaryC - for once I mostly agree with you I was going to argue the point over VW not being a merc rival, but in germany merc's are taxis, and these days some of the cars are less than solid so you are right!

I think VW (Makers of the 'Peoples car') are nuts bringing out an S class sized car! And audi with a 90k coupe Audi don't seem to be able to produce a proper accomplished M-car rival (like the S4/6 should be), only occasional the one offs with loads of power (RS2/4/6) appeal to enthusiasts - shame because the quality and design is quite good, they just need to get the steering, suspension, drivetrain right now...