Every year, Volkswagen bequeaths a gift to a bunch of VW nuts in Austria. This year, the gift isn’t a Volkswagen at all. It’s an Audi. A 600-horsepower, electric-turbo’d, be-winged and be-vented Audi TT. And it looks like it’s going to eat your children.
Officially known as the Audi TT Clubsport Turbo Technology Concept Car, it’s the answer to the question that’s always been lurking in the background for Audi, which is whether or not the company could build a TT to rival the R8, if it really wanted to. And with the aforementioned 600 HP and an additional 479 pound-feet of torque coming from the car’s five-cylinder twin-electric turbos out to all four wheels, the answer is a very definite “probably.”
And inside, there’s bucket seats with four-point racing harnesses, a steering wheel, some doors, some gauges, some vents, some other stuff, blah blah blah, nothing you care about, and OH WAIT A GATED MANUAL SHIFTER.
GATED MANUAL GATED MANUAL GATED MANUAL
Alright, I’m good. I promise. *deep breaths*
Let’s move on to “electric turbos,” because you probably want to know what that’s all about. An electric turbo, which you can actually think of as more akin to a supercharger than a turbocharger, uses electric motors from a dedicated battery system to spin up the compressor in the turbocharger, waiting for the exhaust gasses to do the job. The end result is faster response, less lag, and hopefully, more efficiency, than a car with a regular turbocharger.
Which all adds up to this little TT motoring to 60 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds, and onto a top speed of 192 MPH. The e-turbo system isn’t quite yet ready for production, Audi says, but you can expect to see it in some form over the next few years.
And, of course, this thing wouldn’t be a completely bonkers concept ready for the nutters at the VW celebration in Wörthersee, Austria, without the looks for the part. After all, it’s got to follow in the footsteps of the half-VW, half-Audi, half-Lamborghini, half-Bentley (yes, I’m aware that’s a lot of halves) Golf W12 concept that made its debut there a few years ago. So the exhaust spits out the side, it’s got that rear wing that likely doubles as the main fixture in a drinking establishment, and a gaping maw that looks more suited for undersea life than anything else.
Oh, and of course, there’s plenty of scaffolding out the back, lest you worry about using all 600 horsepower to flip the thing.
Damn, Audi. Looks like you’ve still got it.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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