Mono powerunit set for all future Audi RS models

Audi Sport’s electrification switch announced last year will be ramped-up significantly over the coming years, with a fresh report from the United Kingdom alleging that the marque’s RS models will no longer have different powertrains.

With the next RS4 poised to become a plug-in hybrid and the all-electric e-tron GT RS due out within the next two to three years, the division’s Sales and Marketing Head, Rolf Michel, confirmed to Autocar that the process would be a ‘step-by-step’ approach and not simply in one complete sweep.

Audi RS6 Avant

“Audi AG is positioning itself as consistently electric. The first step of electrification is already done with the RS6 and there will be fully electric versions with the E-tron GT. Our main focus is performance and everyday usability,” Michel said.

Branding electrification as having the ability to be “emotional and with “brilliant aspects for performance cars”, Michel added that, “[Audi Sport is] well-known for precise portfolio planning, and we want to keep it easy for the customer.

Audi RS Q8

“We will have one car with one engine. It doesn’t make sense to have different variants. Maybe there will be different variants for different concepts, whether they are electrified, internal combustion-engined or otherwise, but every model will have a single drivetrain”.

Besides the RS6 Avant, the RS7 Sportback and RS Q8 are the only other RS models equipped with electrical assistance, which comes in the shape of a 48-volt belt alternator/starter working in tandem with the twin-turbo 4.0 TFSI V8 for a total output of 441kW/800Nm.

Audi RS7 Sportback

The marque’s S models have also not escaped electrification and include the 331kW/600Nm 2.9 TFSI V6 in the S5, S6 and S7, two additional variants of the mentioned 4.0 TFSI outputting 373kW/770Nm in the SQ7/SQ8 and 420kW/800Nm in the S8, the 3.0 TDI in the European-spec S4, S6, S7 and SQ5 that produces 255 kW or 257 kW depending on the model with torque being rated at 700 Nm, and the 4.0 TDI in the SQ7 and SQ8 TDI that cranks out 320kW/900Nm.

For the time being, it remains to be seen which of the myriad of engines will be kept or discontinuing over coming years.

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