Audi development chief Ulrich Hackenberg gave the strongest hint so far that the automaker will add an SUV/crossover derivative to its TT compact sports car lineup.
At the press launch of the third-generation TT coupe, Hackenberg said a new, unspecified TT body style is being developed. The TT offroad concept, unveiled at the Beijing auto show in April, “provides an insight into how we might envisage a new model in a future TT family,” he said.
A TT crossover variant would meet growing consumer demand for cars with a higher riding position than traditional coupes and roadsters. Audi will have to expand the TT family to maintain sales of the sports car. “Further segmentation of the market will continue as carmakers look to fulfill current customer demands and find ways to meet those that don’t as yet exist,” said an Audi executive, who declined to be named, when asked about an expansion of the TT family.
Audi will begin sales of the third-generation TT coupe in Europe in the autumn while the roadster, which debuts Oct. 2 at the Paris auto show, will launch next spring. The TT is scheduled to arrive in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2015, followed a year later by the roadster. The TT coupe’s base version with a 230hp, 2.0-liter petrol engine starts at 35,000 euros in Germany. It is the first car to offer Audi’s new “virtual cockpit,” an instrument-cluster display that replaces the navigation screen in the center stack.
