The future of Audi Sport will be electrified and while that may give some car enthusiasts nightmares, the high-performance division remains confident that its next generation of cars will be just as evocative as the models we know and love.
According to Audi Sport managing director Sebastian Grams, the company’s targeted customers are changing, as evidenced by the fact that the Audi RS e-Tron GT accounts for one-third of all e-Tron GT sales.
“We have to focus also on the new target groups, which are growing up, and therefore we definitely believe that electrification and high performance go really, really well together,” Grams told Autocar in a recent interview.
Read: The Audi R8 Is Set To Transform Into An All-Electric Supercar
Grams noted that Audi is looking to transfer certain technologies from its various motorsport activities into its future RS road cars. These will include technologies from Formula E as well as unique projects like the S1 Hoonitron built for Ken Block.
“We’ve taken technology out of Formula E, which is very advanced technology, [and put it] into a ‘serial’ car… It’s not a serial car; it’s a race car. But we’ve really designed, in a new way, an electric Quattro of the future, which is highly emotional,” he said.
While many think that EVs lack the personality of combustion-powered performance cars, Grams noted that Audi will continue to maintain a clear differentiation between its regular models and those with an RS badge.
“With electrification on board, you can find special driving modes and you can create a special sound for the powertrain. This is something we’ve shown in the RS E-tron GT,” Grams said. “We had sound engineers making a specific sound that’s characteristic for an RS model. These are the new patents we have to bring into our cars, into our technology.”
Grams added that electric motors also allow engineers to better tweak the torque curve and power delivery than they would be able to in a combustion car, claiming that they are “a better playground for our engineers.”
