The new Audi TT has been previewed in a series of official design sketches, which reveal a car that continues to draw heavily on the Bauhaus-inspired design of the original, albeit with reinterpreted detailing aimed at giving it a more technical look than ever before.
Key among the changes brought to the latest Audi TT coupé is the incorporation of more angular detailing. These official sketches reveal newly shaped headlamps, a sharper looking single-frame grille and reformed air ducts among other new styling elements.
In a move aimed at providing the TT with a closer family resemblance to the mid-engined R8, the four-ring Audi emblem has also been repositioned from the upper section of the grille to the leading edge of a signature clamshell-style bonnet.
Traditional cues include prominent wheelarch flares, sizeable wheel houses, a defined shoulder line running the entire length of the flanks from the headlights through to the tail-lights, a heavily curved roofline, a liftback-style tailgate and a horizontal feature line bisecting the tail-lights to provide added visual width at the rear.
As part of efforts to provide it with a more technical appearance, the headlights and tail-lights carry intricate LED-imbued graphics.
Set to make its debut at the Geneva motor show, the new TT coupé drops the platform of today’s second-generation model for more contemporary underpinnings incorporating elements of parent company Volkswagen’s latest MQB platform.
Details remain scarce ahead of the new TT's official unveiling, but insiders confirm the new car will continue to use a unique floorpan constructed out of a combination of hot-formed high-strength steel and aluminium.
The outer body of the new Audi, which Ingolstadt insiders describe as being close in size to the second-generation TT coupé, will also use a combination of steel and aluminium in an effort to bring it in below the impressive 1260kg kerb weight of its predecessor.
The suspension continues to use a combination of MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link rear set-up, although the adoption of a greater number of aluminium components and a newly developed electro-mechanical steering system is claimed to provide the new car with sharper responses.
The new TT coupé will once again be powered by a range of transversely mounted turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines. Among the updated units planned are 177bhp 1.8-litre and 217bhp 2.0-litre versions of the Audi-developed EA888 unit in the TT 1.8 T and TT 2.0 T respectively.
Gearbox choices will include a standard six-speed manual or optional six-speed dual clutch S-tronic, with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. As with the outgoing second-generation model, buyers will also get the choice between standard front-wheel drive and optional four-wheel drive.
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Is the game up?
They've subsequently enjoyed huge success, growth & profits while become the motoring equivalent of a premium German household appliance. Too much NEFF, too little NSU.
However I sense the pendulum is swinging back now and even their core market - moneyed folk who care little for cars or driving - have noticed how unremittingly dull & predictable the offering has become.
I predict a gentle slide back to bronze medal-dom.
Typical German design
Boring, boring Audi. Just
Just photocopy last generation vehicle and apply slightly pointier lights. This, the Golf, the A4, the 3 series. All the same.
And yet the german-advertising-fed media dare to criticise Japanese design for being boring?? Look at your own paymasters first!!!