With the pressure built by the folks at Mercedes-AMG – Audi is under stress in the rat race to produce the fastest and most powerful hot hatch on the road. Although the RS3 is on the way; the current S3 is losing crowd due to the much more powerful A45 and CLA45 AMG. To counter this, word from the grapevine concludes that a faster, more powerful S3 is in the works and set to take on the AMG rivals.
Its going to be called the S3 Plus and will feature the same EA888 2.0-litre 4 cylinder Turbocharged engine; however it will be tinkered with by the Germans to produce a whopping 375bhp and 500nm of torque. When it comes – it sets to be the most powerful 4-cylinder engine in the world, taking away the crown from AMG.
Much to our surprise; the man leading this project is Friedrich Eichler – the man behind the 2.0-litre AMG engine who is now with VAG. Set to head this project, Friedrich will also be involved in the development of a hotter Golf Mk7 R dubbed as the ‘Evo’ and the next RS3 at the same time.
With the S3 Plus in movement – we can expect the next RS3 to be in access of 400bhp. Although there has been no word if the 2.5-litre 5 cylinder engine will be fitted in the next generation; it is safe to say that the EA888 upgraded engine will be retained for the next generation to come. At the same time; we know that Audi is working on the next generation TT and this engine is bound for that car as well.
No word has been said on the debut of the S3 Plus either – although it could be as soon as March at the Geneva Motor Show. It’ll be amazing to see VAG give Mercedes-AMG a run for its money; but we hope the gearbox fitted will be much more potent than the current series of DSG system.
