Audi chases A45 AMG engine crown

Geneva show goers anticipated the new TT, but nobody expected Audi to show off a 309kW version of its 2.0-litre engine that would, when it goes into production as superhot TT RS, outmuscle AMG’s 265kW 2.0-litre A45 as the production engine with the highest specific output.

Currently a concept, the TT 420 (for its output in metric horsepower, and officially launched as the Audi TT quattro sport concept) is a 1344kg clubsport version of the TT.

Developed under the Volkswagen Group’s new powertrain boss, Fritz Eichler, who previously headed AMG’s four-cylinder engine development, the new Audi engine pumps out 450Nm of torque on a turbo boost of 1.8 bar, the same as the A45.

Audi claims the engine will push the TT RS from 0-100km/h in a mere 3.7 seconds, compared with the AMG’s 4.6 seconds.

Staggeringly, the 2.0-litre’s 309kW is exactly the same output as the 4.2-litre V8 used in the first Audi R8.

Audi’s five-cylinder engine will continue to power the production RS TT as the clubsport has yet to be officially greenlighted, but Audi sources are confident it will hit the showroom as a limited production car, if only to outpoint the A45, sometime in 2016.