Audi Sport is also increasingly pulling the plug. The RS E-tron GT is currently the only sporty Audi that you can charge, but that will change in the near future. By the end of the decade, every Audi Sport model will have a charging port.
The electrification of Audi Sport will take place step by step. By 2024, Audi Sport expects that half of all performance models will have a partially or fully electric powertrain. The focus is on both fully electric and plug-in hybrid models. Ultimately, that percentage will slowly but surely increase: in 2026, 80 percent of the supply must be electrified and in 2030 there will not even be any fast Audis available without a plug. Sebastian Grams, general manager of Audi Sport, does not rule out the combustion engine, however. The plug-in hybrid will therefore still play an important role in the coming years.
Currently, the RS E-tron GT is the only RS model with a plug. The current RS6, RS7 and RS Q8 have a mild-hybrid powertrain. Audi Sport is thus a step ahead of BMW M and Mercedes-AMG, because the first electric sports enthusiasts of those brands are still waiting. However, Mercedes-AMG previously revealed similar electrification plans as Audi Sport, highlighting both the electric models and the plug-in hybrids. Audi has in any case a good benchmark, because the plug-in hybrid powertrain from AMG in its strongest variant – with V8 – is expected to deliver more than 800 hp. The plug-in hybrid four-cylinder from the future C63 should make it to around 650 hp. Serious numbers.
Race
Audi has the advantage that Porsche has been working for a while with a plug-in hybrid powertrain in the Panamera and Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid. In its latest version, it kicks up to 700 hp. What Audi Sport will do concretely with the powertrains is as yet unclear, but the ingredients for a new horsepower race are already there.