Audi Confirms RS Variant for E-Tron GT Sports EV, Teases Soundtrack

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

With Porsche having secured itself an all-electric vehicle, the laws of trickle-down manufacturing dictate that Audi is the next on Volkswagen Group’s docket for performance-focused electrification. Using the J1 performance platform that underpins Porsche’s Taycan, the Ingolstadt-based automaker has reported that its own E-Tron GT is nearing completion — assuring us that it’ll will meet the bar in terms of “quality and progressiveness” in a handful of announcements on Thursday.

Probably the most important of these was that Audi would be ready to commence production at the end of this year at Böllinger Höfe, near Neckarsulm, alongside the R8. However the company leaked a few additional details, including that the E-Tron (which the brand stylizes in all lower-case letters, bleh) will come in an RS variant.

While we have no clue on how hardcore the RS trim will be on the E-Tron GT, Stuttgart’s Taycan ranges between 522 and 750 horsepower. Audi will presumably slot the RS tastefully below the Porsche’s maximum output, leaving it with similarly mental 0-to-60 times in the 3 second (or less) range. It’s also likely to get a bunch of exterior touches not found on the standard trimmed GT and some unique flair on the inside to give further distinguish it from the more plebeian examples.

Marc Lichte, head of design at Audi, had previously confessed that it was difficult to distinguish EVs from each other in terms of their innate character. But he’s been confident they’ve managed to pull it off by giving the duo “completely different driving dynamics.”

“It’s not like today with an [internal combustion] engine, where the flat-six or the turbo V6 provides the character. The challenge is to develop that kind of identity for the EV vehicles,” Lichte told Car & Driver in 2018. “Audi has a rich history, and we need to marry our past to the future.”

Since then, we’ve gotten a healthy look at the E-Tron GT Concept (above) — which has some overt badge engineering but enough unique touches to differentiate itself from the Taycan. Despite the two obviously sharing plenty of industrial DNA, the Audi is more angular. Even the production model, which Audi has teased using close-up shots of a heavily camouflaged model, appears to retain some of the creases we saw on the concept that the Porsche lacks.

Another item keeping the two apart will be the soundtrack. While the Taycan has an “Electric Sport Sound” option that adds a synthesized rumble that provides some depth to the standard EV whizzing EV (for an extra $500), the E-Tron GT will be getting its own unique noises. All the manufacturer has said thus far is that the car “sounds powerful and progressive — just as an Audi should.” But it has provided a couple of teasers indicating the E-Tron will likely be offering fewer audio-engineered burbles for something more akin to the THX introduction.

[Images: Audi]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Oct 08, 2020

    [Feeling all techy after that tediously didactic video, so....] Physics question for the B&B: A layer of plexiglass is impenetrable to the coronavirus (particle size maybe 0.1 micron), yet a fly (on the order of 6,000 microns) goes right through. How is this possible?

    • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Aug 29, 2021

      Dude - you need to learn to listen to the experts.

  • ThomasSchiffer ThomasSchiffer on Oct 08, 2020

    Can someone enlighten me what the point of these electric ‘performance cars’ is that will quickly delete their meager battery power supply after a few moments of fun while offering zero emotional feedback in the form of real addictive engine noise? To me, the EV fits the category of ‘soulless appliance’ perfectly.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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