One of Audi's most unique models – the five-cylinder RS3 performance car – has had time called on it as new, more stringent European emissions rules close in.
The axe is soon to fall on the last new five-cylinder car in Australian showrooms, the Audi RS3 hot hatch and sedan, with no replacement in sight.
The latest iteration of an engine type first offered by Audi in the 1980s for rally racing, the 2.5-litre engine is not expected to survive the next round of European emissions rules.
"No, right now the five-cylinder will probably end with Euro 7," Audi global CEO Gernot Dollner told Australian media at the Munich motor show.
With Euro 7 in force for newly-introduced vehicles from November 2026, and all new cars on sale in Europe in November 2027, it hands the five-cylinder engine about two years left in dealers.
Asked if it is too technically difficult to adapt the engine for Euro 7 standards, Dollner said: "No, it's not difficult. It's a question of scale and overall market demand."
The RS3 is the last new Audi fitted with the engine, after order books closed on the RS Q3 small SUV in recent months with the changeover to a new model, and the TT RS two-door's discontinuation in 2023.
The current A3 on which the RS3 is based is expected to remain in production until close to the end of the decade, when it is due to be replaced by an electric car.
Asked if a future, petrol-powered RS3 could instead use a four-cylinder engine, Dollner said: "I don't want to speculate here today on the future of specific RS models."
It comes amid reports in recent weeks claiming Audi will upgrade the 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine for Euro 7, so it can be used in a 'run-out' flagship edition of the RS3, as well as a hero Volkswagen Golf R.
It has been suggested that the five-cylinder would receive a power boost over its 294kW/500Nm outputs in the regular RS3, and 299kW/500Nm in a Performance Edition special capable of 300km/h.
Spy photos of the final-edition RS3 have shown canards on the front bumper, and a larger rear spoiler, rather than a major overhaul.
The vehicle would need to launch and complete its production run by the end of November 2027, if it is to beat the Euro 7 deadline.
It would bring to a close nearly 20 years of the modern five-cylinder Audi engine, revived in 2009 for the TT RS in a 250kW state of tune, and subsequently tuned and upgraded to reach its current form.
The last non-Audi cars to field a five-cylinder engine in Australia were the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 utes with diesel fuel, or a series of Volvo models until 2018 with petrol power.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
