The Audi TT is reproducing, and it’s dipping into other areas of the gene pool to do it. As well as the familiar coupe and convertible, this Paris show car posits the idea of a five-door TT Sportback.
Well, it worked for the A5 and better still on the A7, so hey, why not?
“We are now fusing both concepts to form a new member of a potential TT family,” Audi’s tech boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg says, while the rest of his boffins are frantically fiddling with their test tubes in the search for new genomes in an Ingolstadt laboratory.
If nothing else, the TT Sportback does at least extend the, um, evolutionary design language of the latest TT into uncharted territory. Its basic measurements tell some of the story: it’s 29cm longer, 6cm wider and its wheelbase is 12cm longer than the regular TT.
But it also manages to be three centimetres lower, stretching the coupe's expertly chiselled and chamfered surfaces to the limit.
Design highlights include three pronounced air inlets with honeycomb inserts, laser headlights, and flat C-pillars that finish up in the car’s rear shoulders in a way that echoes the smart A7 Sportback.
The graphics on the R18 endurance racer, Audi says, are a major influence on the TT Sportback’s single-piece rear lights. Whopping great 21in alloys look wonderful but promise interesting ride quality attributes.
The TT’s new Virtual Cockpit, which features an endlessly configurable 12.3in TFT screen powered by potent microprocessors, naturally reappears here, as does the ingeniously reimagined air con system.
The Sportback being what it is naturally gains an extra pair of seats, and a centre console that extends the full length of the interior. There are dark aluminium accents on the dash, and handcrafted seamwork adds an extra layer of elegance to the regular TT’s overtly sporting character. Leather and alcantara both feature, as do rubberised floor mats for unusual extra texture.
The TT Sportback’s production readiness is underlined by the presence of the latest-gen 2.0-litre TFSi engine, whose turbos have been tweaked up to help it produce just short of 400bhp. The transmission is Audi’s dual-shift seven-speed auto, and the car’s discreet quattro badge indicates a familiar chassis configuration.
Next up: the Q TT Sportback All-Road?
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