Currently reading: New Audi TT previewed in official design sketches
Audi gives TT coupé a sharp new look and revised engines, plus new roadster version due before the end of the year

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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Also planned to join the line-up from the beginning of sales is a more powerful 296bhp version of the 2.0-litre engine in the new four-wheel drive Audi TTS coupé, as previewed in Audi’s official design sketches.

It will be followed in 2015 by a successor to the range-topping TT RS running a heavily reworked version of the turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder petrol engine developing around 360bhp.

Also planned for selected markets, including the UK, is a follow up to the TT 2.0 TDI fitted with a 177bhp version of Audi’s turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine.

Inside, the new TT coupé will receive a dashboard heavily inspired by that used in the latest A3. Featured is a new 12-inch TFT instrument display that can be altered between a digital display and more traditional-looking analogue layout.

The initial two-plus-two coupé version of the new third-generation TT will be followed by a two-seater roadster variant, which is tentatively planned to appear at the Paris motor show in September. 

Read more Geneva motor show news.

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AHA1 21 February 2014

Is the game up?

The original TT more or less co-incided with Audi finally winning fully equal status with BMW & M-B after decades of worthy, bronze medal positioning.

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.

Roadster 20 February 2014

Typical German design

This looks nothing more than a facelifted version of the current TT, including a slight change to the C pillar which has a slight resemblance to the concept version of the original TT. If we expect something drastically different from the next R8, I think we'll disappointed. We can imagine now in minds what that will look like! Is it possible for German car companies to come up a new model that not only looks even remotely different from its predecessor, but doesn't look like a scaled up or down model from the rest of the range either? If the Brits, Italians and French can do something different, why not the Germans?
sirwiggum 20 February 2014

Boring, boring Audi. Just

Boring, boring Audi.

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!!!