Audi will sacrifice TT to make way for electric sports car in massive brand shake-up

Audi has announced that in order to hit an ambitious target of 40 per cent electric vehicle sales by 2025 it will “phase out” nameplates like the TT and possibly R8 and A8 to make way for electrified replacements.

The German automaker announced its intention to re-align itself to become “a provider of holistic CO2-neutral premium mobility” at its 130th general meeting. As part of the 40-billion-euro plan, Audi will launch 30 “electric drive” models of which 20 will be fully-electric.

While it’s likely we’ll see production versions of the brand’s e-tron and AI concept vehicles it has drip-fed over the last few years, it will also see the demise of certain storied nameplates.

The brand revealed, after more than a year’s worth of speculation, that the TT is headed for the chopping block to make way for a new “emotive electric vehicle” in a comment to industry source Automotive News.

It also noted that its flagship A8 saloon could be headed for the same fate, possibly to be replaced by a “completely new concept” for its next generation.

The current-generation A8 could be the last one. At least how we've come to know it.

While no comment was offered on the future of the R8, but it’s not a stretch to assume it will also be replaced, likely by a production version of the e-tron GT it first showed in concept form at the 2018 Los Angeles motor show.

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In the coming year the brand hopes to launch plug-in hybrid variants of the current A6, A7 and A8 range, and the electrification of the brand’s popular A4 mid-size sedan has already begun with its most recent facelift receiving mild-hybrid powertrains. The brand also launched a high-spec PHEV Q5 in Europe.

A production version of the e-tron GT seems to be the most obvious replacement for the R8.

The accelerated move toward Audi becoming a ‘carbon neutral’ premium electric brand seems to address previous comments by the brand’s global chief that Audi had become “a brand in crisis”.

It will have the knock-on benefit of the brand being able to raise funds by selling its CO2 credits to other companies with larger emissions footprints in Europe.

This strategy has been used with great success by Tesla when it sold 1.8 billion Euros worth of C02 credits to Fiat Chrysler earlier this year. 

Are you excited to see what Audi has up its sleeve for its all-electric future? Tell us what you think in the comments below.