7:22 pm, October 26, 2011
AUDI has revealed they will launch a hot performance model of their Q3 baby SUV in the next 18 months.
Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer at the launch of the new entry-level Q model, Audi representatives said the German manufacturer will be producing a performance Q3 with ‘about’ 300bhp in the next 18 months – but it will not be wearing the fabled RS badging.
‘In about 18 months there will be a hot version with about 300bhp in a S-Line spec model. Although it will be using an RS engine, it will not be called RS. No Q model will have an RS badge,’ Audi product manager Rob Morris exclusively told us.
The engine to be used is likely to be the 2.5-litre five cylinder unit found in the TT-RS and the recently launched RS3 hot hatchback. That engine produces 335bhp and would compete against a ‘hot’ Range Rover Evoque if one were to be produced – something Audi is confident of.
‘If and when Range Rover puts the 2.5-litre Volvo engine in the Evoque, we will need to compete,’ added Audi’s head of PR, Jon Zammett.
