Audi RS 1 still on the cards

Last week's launch of the Audi Sport performance brand in Australia, which will be rolled out globally in due course, will be followed by an expansion to RS range.

The new Audi Sport brand encompasses all RS and R8 models and the newly introduced branding convention, represented visually by a single 'red rhombus', could soon be accompanied by the reveal of new additions to the go-fast range.

Although official confirmation has not been forthcoming, there are a number of potential vehicles in offing, including the previously mooted RS 1 hyper-hatch, an RS 8 super-limousine and potentially an RS version of Audi's upcoming baby SUV, the Q1.

Audi Australia managing director Andrew Doyle was upbeat during a conversation about the potential expansion of the RS range, sales of which are booming in Australia and will likely double when the RS 3 launches here in October.

"I think the brand has the ability to expand further," he said of the hard-core RS range.

"There's always discussion about it, that's the great thing about Audi. We're always exploring what can be an option."

Naturally, Doyle was coy on details but appeared upbeat about the idea of an RS 1, which would take the 170kW S1 – which finished a very credible fourth in the inaugural motoring.com.au Australia's Best Driver's Car – to extreme new levels.

"Certainly nothing's confirmed right now but why not, I would say, at least from an Australian perspective. There's an appetite for such models and we can do it globally," he said.

With pent-up demand for the first RS 3 in Australia – the most affordable RS model at under $80,000 – an RS 1 would be priced even more attractively, potentially making it Audi Sport's best-selling model both here and globally.

"We'd love to see it here in Australia. We take every RS product and R8 product available, so we'll be putting our hands up for it.

"We'll see. You never know," smiled Doyle, who is clearly cognisant of the need to offer more, and smaller, RS models to match Mercedes-Benz's domination of the segment via its wide variety of entry-level four-cylinder AMG vehicles.

If the RS 1 does become a reality, it's not clear whether the extreme quattro hatch will materialise during the life of the current-generation A1, a facelifted version of which was launched here mid-2015, or whether it will wait for the next-generation A1 due in a couple of years.

Either way, although it would be more expensive than the circa-$50,000 S1, the RS 1 would be smaller and cheaper than any model offered by Mercedes-AMG or BMW M.