While not necessarily a far-fetched proposition, an Audi A1-based RS1 model is apparently out of the question, at least for the foreseeable future.
It seems that the appreciated S1 is about as focused and fast as it’s ever going to get, according to a report by Top Gear.
The magazine spoke to Stephan Reil, the technical director at Quattro GmbH, who elaborated: “I really love the S1, it’s a really cool car, but to have the right horsepower gap between an S1 and a potential RS1, would mean the RS1 would get close to the S3.”
He did add the classic “never say never,” but went on to say that “unfortunately it’s not very realistic. The main reason is financial. The smaller the car gets, the smaller the amount of return you get, so you need to sell a whole bunch of cars to make it. The smaller the car gets, the harder the business case becomes.”
The upcoming RS3 is expected to make 360-ish hp, so the supposed RS1 would probably make over 300 hp itself, while undercutting it on price – like Reil said, in order to deserve the RS badge, the car would have to outperform the S3 and that’s not good for business…
What do you think: is the S1 enough or would there realistically be room in the range for an RS1?
Rendering via RM Design
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