Audi’s involvement in endurance racing may have ended with the sudden closure of its Le Mans racing program, but the German automaker isn’t prepared to throw in the towel as far as its participation in motorsports is concerned. In fact, Audis’ other racing endeavors will go on as scheduled under the relaunched Audi Sport GmbH brand, which replaces Quattro GmbH as the go-to division for all of Audi’s performance vehicles and racing activities moving forward.
Former Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann will take charge of Audi Sport GmbH and all of its programs, including the aforementioned motor racing arm, as well as the Audi Exclusive program, Audi sport merchandise, and most importantly, the German automakers very own performance cars.
What this means is that Audi’s present and future performance road cars will now be under the Audi Sport GmbH umbrella. This includes the current lineup of R8 models, the S8 Plus performance models, and the five RS models - RS3 sedan, RS Q3 crossover, RS6 Avant, RS7 Sportback, and TT RS - currently being sold by the brand. The reshuffling itself is big news, one that could lead to future participation among the different programs under Audi Sport GmbH.
What’s also big news, at least pertaining to the performance road car division, is the confirmation that no less than eight new models are being planned for release over the next 18 months. Do the math and that timetable concludes sometime in the middle of 2018. So, between now and then, we can expect to see more performance Audis enter production.
The mystery at this point is what models they’re going to be. One of the most likely candidates is the RS5 coupe, which is due to make its own comeback. Beyond that though, there are a multitude of possibilities, including new versions of existing models or new versions altogether. Is it possible then that current Audi models like the A1, A4, Q2, and Q7 could get their own RS-badged models in the next 18 months?
It’s hard to tell at this point without more concrete details from Audi, but the important thing here is that Audi’s family of performance road cars will grow in the course of the next year and a half under the relaunched Audi Sport GmBh brand.
Continue after the jump to read the full story.
from Top Speed http://ift.tt/2gEzOLu
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