Skip to main content

Audi could build a mid-engined car on the next Porsche Boxster's platform

2016 Audi TT-S
Miles Branman/Digital Trends
Audi could fill the deep chasm that separates the compact TT and the Lamborghini-derived R8 with a mid-engined model, a new report finds.

Tentatively called R6, the sports car will be offered both as a coupe and as a convertible. It will share its basic platform with the next-generation of the Boxster and the Cayman, but it won’t look anything like its Porsche-badged siblings. Instead, it will receive a sharp, muscular-looking design that will borrow styling cues from the bigger, V10-powered R8.

Audi will further differentiate the R6 from the Boxster/Cayman by replacing Porsche’s newly introduced turbo four engines with a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder mill tuned by Quattro, the company’s go-fast division. Entry-level variants will get about 280 horsepower, mid-range models will up the ante with 340 ponies, and the range-topping version will use a 400-horsepower evolution of the engine. Additionally, the R6 will come standard with Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system, while the Boxster/Cayman will remain rear-wheel drive in the foreseeable future.

German magazine Auto Bild reports that sharing the Boxster platform with Audi will allow Porsche to leverage the benefits of economies of scale. The sports car segment is shrinking at an alarming rate, so it’s getting increasingly difficult for companies to make money by selling coupes and convertibles. On the other hand, a mid-engined model positioned between the TT and the R8 would help Audi successfully launch its sport-focused Audi sub-brand.

The magazine stresses that the project hasn’t been given the proverbial green light for production yet. If it’s approved, the Audi R6 will likely be previewed by a thinly veiled concept in the next year or so, and it won’t arrive in showrooms until 2018 at the earliest. A lot can happen until then, so we’re taking this report with a grain of salt.

Editors' Recommendations

Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Hitching a ride in Audi’s AI:Me, the autonomous city car of the future

Previous

Next

Read more
Ford could build its next Mustang-inspired electric car on Volkswagen bones
Ford Mustang Mach E front view

Ford is eager to capitalize on the Mustang Mach-E's popularity by releasing a smaller, more affordable model in the coming years. While development work is on-going, company sources hinted the yet-unnamed car will use Volkswagen parts.

Decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic are already plotting ways to expand the Mustang family beyond the well-known two-door model and the aforementioned Mach-E crossover, according to Murat Gueler, Ford's chief designer. "Yes, we have already talked about expansion, to some sort of family," he confirmed to British magazine Auto Express.

Read more
Chevrolet could make the mid-engined, eighth-generation Corvette a hybrid
mid engined chevrolet corvette news rumors specs 2020 stingray

Chevrolet made the Corvette mid-engined for the first time in the nameplate's 66-year history when it released the eighth-generation model in 2019, and the transformation might not be done yet. The latest Corvette will gain all-wheel drive and a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain -- two more firsts -- later in its production run, according to a recent report.

It's no secret that the Corvette range will grow in the coming years with the addition of higher-performance models, like the Z06 and the ZR1. Motor Trend learned from anonymous insiders with accurate knowledge of Chevrolet's plans that the latter model will arrive with some form of electrification and a total output in the vicinity of 900 horsepower. The hybrid powertrain is being designed with an unabashed emphasis on performance; this isn't a Toyota Prius.

Read more