Late last year we learned that Audi Sport, the new name for Audi’s Quattro performance division, will be bringing out as many as eight new models by the end of 2018.
One of these is the new RS 5 that debuted during this month’s 2017 Geneva auto show. Most of the others will be high-riding models, Audi Sport boss Stephan Winkelmann has since revealed to Car and Driver.
“We don’t have a big lineup,” he said. “The right cars means having them in segments that are growing... therefore a [crossover] shift is due; we are working on it, and you will see it coming.”
Winkelmann didn’t reveal the identity of any of the models but the Q8 Sport concept unveiled at the Geneva auto show hints that an RS-badged version of the upcoming Q8 SUV is planned. We’ve also heard that an RS Q5 is in the pipeline and according to Car and Driver sources there will be an RS Q7, too. Audi’s recently confirmed Q4 is also a potential recipient of the RS treatment, though the compact SUV isn’t due in standard form until 2019.
Audi's only RS-badged SUV at present is the RS Q3 though this model isn't offered in the United States. The good news is that the silly habit of failing to develop Audi Sport models as global cars—we also miss out on the RS 4 and RS 6—will finally end under Winkelmann's reign. In his interview with Car and Driver, he explained that the vehicles developed need to be in “segments that are equally distributed in the regions of the world.”
