2013 Audi R3

2013 Audi R3

2013 Audi R3

Last month, we told you about Audi and Volkswagen working on a pair of roadsters. Now more information about Audi’s version is beginning to surface. Audi’s car will be designed to look like a smaller version of its successful R8. But it will not be called R4, as previously believed. Instead, according to CarMagazine, Audi will go smaller and call the future model R3. Set to be launched in 2013, a preview version (under Volkswagen logo) will be revealed in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The R3 will replace the current TT and will be exclusively powered by four-cylinder engines in order to keep "the Audi a safe distance from the Boxster and Cayman." Price will be kept in the €25,000 to €45,000 range.

Under the hood, Audi would install the 180bhp 1.8-liter TFSI motor, a 2.0-liter version rated at 220bhp and a brawny S-line model good for some 280bhp. Diesel TDI engines would also likely be an option at least in Europe. Versions could include a frugal 125bhp variant of the latest 1.6-liter common-rail as well as 170 and 204bhp versions of the 2.0-liter.