Audi’s RS division, technically known as Audi Sport, will not be following in the path of Mercedes-AMG and building more of its own models.
As Car and Driver points out, that means the ur-Quattro-inspired Quattro Concept and Sport Quattro Concept the automotive world spent a good chunk of 2013 lusting over will not be making their way to showrooms anytime soon.
“I think there is the opportunity for a very limited car, but this is not my top priority at the moment,” Audi Sport head and former Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winklemann told C/D. “It’s a nice dream, but I think we have so much in front of us that the most important thing is to get the lineup where we need it.”
Another thing that won’t be seen in Audi dealerships in the future? Drift mode. In a conversation with Australian publication Motoring, Audi Sport development boss Stephan Reil said his divison’s all-wheel-drive performance cars won’t take after the Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4MATIC+ and the Ford Focus RS and offer a software-based cheat that enables easy ass-out antics.
“No drift mode. Not in the R8, not in the RS 3, not in the RS 6, not in the RS 4,” he said. “I do not see the reason for them. We do not see the sense in sitting there burning the back tires. It’s not fast.” [Ed. note: We’re gonna consider his words a hint that a new RS 4 is indeed in the works.]
Besides, Reil said, there’s already a way to drift an Audi RS: hold down the traction control button for three second to turn off the nannies and hoon the old-fashioned way.
“You wanted the full control by pushing that button,” he said. “You got it.”
It’s not all doom and gloom from inside the sportiest halls of the four-ring circus, however. Winklemann said not only will Audi Sport be whipping up new RS versions of existing vehicles (including plenty of SUVs), but the group could amp up the number of Performance versions that tack on extra power to existing hi-po Audis as well.
And here in the United States, we may even see the eventual return of one of our favorite pieces of forbidden fruit: the Audi RS6 Avant. An Audi insider told C/D that the Stateside success of the A4 Allroad has convinced The Powers That Be that enough Americans still like station wagons to at least run the numbers on shipping the next-gen wunderwagon across the Pond. But don’t hold your breath; even if it does happen, the new RS6 Avant apparently wouldn’t get here until 2019.