The new Audi TT has been previewed in a series of official design sketches which reveal a car that continues to draw heavily on the Bauhaus-inspired design of the original, albeit with reinterpreted detailing aimed at giving it a more technical look than ever before.
Key among the changes brought to the latest TT coupé is the incorporation of more angular detailing. These official sketches reveal newly shaped headlamps, a sharper looking single-frame grille and reformed air ducts among other new styling elements.
In a move aimed at providing the TT with a closer family resemblance to the mid-engined R8, the four-ring Audi emblem has also been repositioned from the upper section of the grille to the leading edge of a signature clamshell style bonnet.
Traditional cues include prominent wheelarch flares, sizeable wheel houses, a defined shoulder line running the entire length of the flanks from the headlights through to the tail-lights, a heavily curved roofline, a liftback-style tailgate and a horizontal feature line bisecting the tail-lights to provide added visual width at the rear.
As part of efforts to provide it with a more technical appearance, the headlights and tail-lights carry intricate LED-imbued graphics.
Set to make its debut at the Geneva motor show, the new TT coupé drops the platform of today’s second-generation model for more contemporary underpinnings incorporating elements of parent company Volkswagen’s latest MQB platform.
Details remain scarce ahead of the new two door’s official unveiling, but insiders confirm the new TT will continue to use a unique floorpan constructed out of a combination of hot-formed high-strength steel and aluminium.
The outer body of the new Audi, which Ingolstadt insiders describe as being close in size to the second-generation TT coupé, will also use a combination of steel and aluminium in an effort to bring it in below the impressive 1260kg kerb weight of its predecessor.
The suspension continues to use a combination of MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link rear set-up, although the adoption of a greater number of aluminium components and a newly developed electro-mechanical steering system is claimed to provide the new car with sharper responses.
The new TT coupé will once again be powered by a range of transversely mounted turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines. Among the updated units planned are 177bhp 1.8-litre and 217bhp 2.0-litre versions of the Audi-developed EA888 unit in the TT 1.8 T and TT 2.0 T respectively.
Gearbox choices will include a standard six-speed manual or optional six-speed dual clutch S-tronic with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. As with the outgoing second-generation model, buyers will also get the choice between standard front-wheel drive and optional four-wheel drive.
Also planned to join the line-up from the beginning of sales is a more powerful 296bhp version of the 2.0-litre engine in the new four-wheel drive TTS coupé, as previewed in Audi’s official design sketches.
It will be followed in 2015 by a successor to the range-topping TT RS running a heavily reworked version of the turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder petrol engine developing around 360bhp.
Also planned for selected markets, is a follow up to the TT 2.0 TDI fitted with a 177bhp version of Audi’s turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine.
Inside, the new TT coupé will receive a dashboard heavily inspired by that used in the latest A3. Featured is a new 12-inch TFT instrument display that can be altered between a digital display and more traiditonal-looking analogue layout.
The initial two-plus-two coupé version of the new third-generation TT will be followed by a two-seater roadster variant, which is tentatively planned to appear at the Paris motor show in September.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
