• Audi’s CEO says that the brand needs a sports car and that the TT is an icon.
• He doesn’t exclude the possibility that the TT could go electric in the future.
• The arrival of an electric TT isn’t a sure thing but it seems Audi is strongly considering making one.

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Audi created one of its most iconic shapes in recent decades when it launched the TT sports car in 1998. The model went through three generations until it was discontinued in 2023, and a total of 662,762 were sold, an impressive number for a small two-door front-wheel-drive sports car. Now there’s a chance it will return with a thirst for electrons, not gasoline.

Nothing seems certain yet, but AutoExpress asked Audi CEO Gernot Döllner about the TT, and he acknowledged that it is “an icon” and that “Audi should have a sports car, for sure.”

When asked whether electric power would be right for a future TT, Döllner replied, “If you’re talking about real racing cars for the track, to me, the only way until now is combustion engine or hybrid. But if it’s more for everyday use on normal roads, I would definitely see a transition to the electric era.”

He went on to say, “Long term, there will be a place for fully electric sports cars, not for the track but for crossing the Alps or having fun on a country road.” Their ability to recharge while you’re stopped for a coffee would be vital for them to take up this role in Döllner’s mind.

The TT has traditionally been based on the same platform as the front-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf, most recently the MQB platform, which gave the hottest TT-RS version R8-rivaling performance. But if the future model goes electric, it would likely need to be built around a different platform, naturally making us think of MQB’s electric equivalent, MEB.

The MEB platform underpins vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.3 or the Audi Q4 E-Tron, and it supports either rear- or all-wheel drive. There’s also a more affordable version of MEB, which is front-wheel drive and it will be used in the VW group’s smaller EVs, like the production version of the ID.Every1 concept.

Switching to a rear-wheel-drive architecture would make sense for an electric sports car. Critics have always pointed to the TT’s front-wheel-drive-biased nature as a shortfall, and this would be a good opportunity for Audi to silence them by making something primarily rear-driven.

We also can’t exclude the future model built on the Porsche-Audi co-developed PPE architecture, already in the Q6 E-Tron, and the new electric Macan. A version of the same platform is believed to also underpin the new 718 Spyder and Cayman sports cars.

Porsche 718 Boxster electric rendering

The VW is also working on a new platform called SSP, which is meant to replace both MEB and PPE architectures and it could be what underpins the electric 718. It’s set to debut in a new vehicle next year (possibly the 718), and it supports a wide range of vehicle styles with power outputs ranging from 160 to 1,740 horsepower. Versions of this platform will underpin pretty much all of the group’s electric vehicles going forward, so it could also be used in an electric TT.

Audi could get a rear-drive TT by using the cheaper MEB platform and thus allow it to make the TT E-Tron a more affordable model in the spirit of the original. It’s an EV that should cost around $50,000, not $80,000, which is the expected price tag for the upcoming electric 718, and it would probably be what a PPE-underpinned TT would end up costing, too.

Gernot Döllner also noted that he’s happy to have Massimo Frascella as Audi’s Chief Creative Officer overseeing the design of new models. Before joining Audi in 2023, Frascella was at Jaguar-Land Rover, where he was behind the designs of the new Defender and the latest Range Rover, both of which were very well received and quite good to look at.

Frascella is all about simple and minimalist shapes without any superfluous details, and all his vehicles have a certain Bauhaus-like quality. This is a perfect match for an Audi TT, as the original was also described as having a clean, streamlined Bauhaus shape that has helped it age very gracefully.

According to the source, Frascella’s first major design statement since joining Audi will be a concept car that debuts at the IAA German motor show in Munich in early September. This concept may also mark a change in Audi’s design language and styling direction.

Another Volkswagen group brand, Cupra, has already shown a concept car previewing a potential production two-door electric sports car, the Cupra DarkRebel. Interestingly, if that were to spawn a production model, it would cost about the same or more than the electric 718, so it could also borrow the PPE platform.

We would love it if the TT came back as a good-to-drive rear-drive EV with styling that honors the original, but we must also not forget that Audi isn’t doing as well as it could be, so it may not deem it wise to allocate resources for such a project right now. The aforementioned IAA concept will give us a good idea of what the automaker is prioritizing these days.