Future Audi RS models won’t have diesel or hybrid

Frank Markus of Motor Trend had a unique opportunity to sit down with Wolfgang Hatz, head of the Audi’s powertrain development, and Stephan Reil, head of quattro technology development. Markus, not missing the opportunity, asked the two whether Audi is considering diesel power for future high-performance Audi models.

Seeing as Audi has been teasing us with the R8 V12 TDI concept since the 2008 Detroit Motor Show and then again at Geneva, it seemed pretty obvious that Audi may be considering a production V12 RDI Audi RS8. However, Hatz said that transmission and packaging problems killed any chances of putting the RS8 TDI into production. The same goes for the beautiful Q7 V12 TDI.

Both men said that diesel engine don’t fit the RS consumers that will buy the product. The same goes for hybrid technology being fitted into RS models. Both engineers did confirm that the new 7-seed twin-clutch DSG gearbox will find its way into most RS models since most customers now prefer paddle shifting.

2009 Audi RS6:

Source: Motor Trend