'Ultimate' Audi TT could get more than 414bhp

Audi has hinted that it could tune its 2.0-litre TFSI petrol engine to produce more than 414bhp in an ‘ultimate’ version of the new TT.

At the Geneva motor show earlier this month, Audi showcased the TT Quattro Sport concept with a 414bhp version of the 2.0 TFSI engine. The official line from insiders is: ‘For now, this is the maximum.’ Audi’s head of powertrain, Dr Stefan Knirsch, has previously said that the concept demonstrates the engine’s ‘full power potential’.

However, with speculation of Mercedes pushing its 2.0-litre AMG petrol to 400bhp and beyond, we asked engineers at a TT technical day whether they could get even more power from the 2.0 TFSI. A guarded response of ‘you’ll have to wait and see – development takes time', suggests that it’s certainly not being ruled out.

A company insider told What Car? that while the engine could produce more power, the concern is reliability when running well above 400bhp. Beyond the mechanical considerations, the source also told us that there needed to be a ‘good power difference’ between an ‘ultimate TT’ and the next-generation Audi R8 supercar due in 2015.