Audi Reportedly Kills Quattro Sports Car in Favor of an Evoque-like Coupe Crossover

Audi’s automobiles have long been praised for their immaculate interior quality and ultra-safe road manners, but they have also been labeled as too clinical.

The R8 supercar changed all that mixing everyday usability with supercar-like performance and entertaining driving dynamics, but it is far too expensive for most buyers.

Having celebrated the original Quattro rally car’s 30th anniversary at the 2010 Paris Auto Show with the Quattro Concept, Audi fans hoped that a production version of the prototype would eventually hit the streets.

Despite the fact that Quattro GmbH boss Stephan Reil was optimistic about the chances of the concept being produced in limited numbers of around 500-1,000 units per year, the project is now dead, according to a report from the UK’s Car Magazine.

The reason is because the automaker is more interested in the booming SUV and crossover segments, and believes a modern reincarnation of the original Quattro Coupe is a niche not worth pursuing.

If the magazine’s report proves to be true, the coupe has been killed off in favor of a coupe-like crossover based on the upcoming Q2, which was previewed at the Paris Auto Show by the Crosslane Coupe.

While the Q2 will be a five-door, five-seater, the Q-Coupe is said to follow the lines of the Crosslane Coupe more closely since Audi is aiming at creating a rival to the successful three- and five-door Range Rover Evoque.

Both the Q2 and the Q-Coupe will be built on the VW Group’s brand-new MQB modular platform. The Q-Coupe will reportedly be powered by a version of the latest EA555 five-cylinder turbocharged unit, which in the current TT RS, has an output of 355-horsepower.

The other news is that, despite Audi abandoning plans for a sub-R8 sports model and VW doing the same with its Bluesport roadster, Car says that Porsche has decided to go at it alone, developing a “551” sub-Boxster that’s scheduled for launch in 2017.

Weissach has been quite ambivalent about the project until now. Sports car fans are surely hoping that with the Boxster having grown in size, Porsche will finally roll out a “baby Boxster” – though we wouldn’t rush to make plans just yet…

By Andrew Tsaousis

Hat tip to Bruno R.!

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