The cars in these photos might look like a pair of Porsche Boxster EV prototypes, but don’t let them fool you. There is more than meets the eye going on here. The CarBuzz spy photographers have discovered what appears to be an Audi hiding in plain sight.
Yes, these cars aren’t just Porsches, they’re actually the rebirth of the Audi TT; prototypes for Audi’s sports car, getting ready to bring that brand back after far too many years off of the market. The reason they look like Porsches could be two-fold. On the one hand, they could be disguising the car underneath, but on the other, they’re what the industry refers to as ‘mules’: very early prototypes that often use other cars to test basic propulsion components.
Sometimes A Disguise Is The Best Disguise
Or, it could be a mix of both. Automakers can do incredible things to hide upcoming models from our intrepid camera team, but for some reason, there are some very obvious things that they seem unable to avoid. One example is the Porsche Cayenne SUV they snapped doing winter testing in Sweden. That Cayenne was actually a Bentley underneath, and we figured it out by the UK license plate on the nose. It came back to Bentley, not to Porsche.
The same little detail trips up what we’re certain are prototypes for a new Audi TT. Porsche plates normally come with a Stuttgart regional prefix (actually Baden-Württemberg). LB, BB, and others, depending on which entity has registered it. Audis get IN for their home in Ingolstadt. These cars start with IN, and they’re freshly registered, meaning after the real Porsche EV program is done.
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The production design is coming to light.
If Audi uses Porsche bones to create a new TT it would be a massive upgrade for the car. The prior three generations of the TT were front-drive-based sports cars built on Volkswagen economy car platforms. Moving to a rear-drive Porsche architecture would transform the character of the TT completely.
Of course, Audi could be using the Porsche 718 EV bodywork on a version of the VW MQB platform that underpins the latest Audi A3 and VW Golf. Making the Audi more Porsche-like would help the latter brand cut costs, but push the price of a new TT upward. A mid-engine TT could then steal away buyers from Porsche, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Audi CEO Says He Wants A Sports Car Again
‘Wait and see’ might be the name of the game at this early stage. We don’t have more about the return of Audi’s small sports car other than to point out that the company’s CEO said just last month that he wanted a sports car back in the lineup.
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As cars and society evolve, no historic name is truly gone forever.
The original Audi TT arrived in 1998 with a timeless shape and very un-Audi-like details, including baseball glove stitching for the seats. In its three generations, the car morphed from a fun compact sports coupe and convertible into a veritable performance car. Especially when equipped with the 394-horsepower 2.5-liter five-cylinder as found in the TT RS.
Currently, Audi is without a single two-door model in its lineup. Following the demise of the TT and the R8, the A5 Coupe was also discontinued. If the TT can revive the bodystyle for the brand, enthusiasts will have something to cheer for again.
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