Currently reading: Audi Sport aims to double sales by 2023
Performance sub-brand wants to speed up development times; RS1 and R8 successor under consideration

Audi Sport plans to double its sales by 2023 as part of a huge expansion of the marque's performance arm.

Audi Sport, now under an entirely new management team led by joint managing directors Oliver Hoffmann and Julius Seebach, also plans to bring the high-performance RS models to market much quicker than the standard Audis on which they are based, down from 18 months after the launch of a standard car to around six.

Sales of Audi Sport models were around 30,000 units globally in 2018 and the plan is to take that to 60,000 by 2023.

A big model expansion is already underway in 2019, with new Audi RS4, RS6, Audi RS7 and RS Q3 models joining the Audi TT RS, Audi RS3 and RS5 models already on sale, and RS Q3 Sportback and RS Q8 models confirmed as entirely new additions to the line-up.

The RS6 brings 48V mild-hybrid technology that sees Audi Sport models electrified for the first time, and the company has confirmed that electrification will be a feature of all of its models in the future. 

Hoffmann confirmed to Autocar that the next-generation RS4 would switch to a plug-in hybrid drivetrain when it launches early in the next decade. The facelifted current-generation car due at the turn of the year would maintain a twin-turbo V6 powertrain.

Hoffmann also confirmed there would be a next-generation R8 and it would be electrified, but a decision has yet to be taken on whether it will be a hybrid of a full electric car. Autocar understands Audi is leaning towards the latter option, with the R8 becoming the second fully electric Audi Sport model after the E-tron GT in 2020. 

An RS1 was also not ruled out by Hoffmann as part of the expansion plans. “All models are under consideration to reach our sales targets,” he said.

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Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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Theojw71 9 September 2019

Needs more polyfilla

Big wedgy holes in the nose. Needs some polyfilla or plasterboard. Or maybe just finish designing it in an interesting way so air gets to the brakes but without half the front end missing. Lazy design doesn’t make legends.