Audi GT50 concept celebrates 50 years of five-cylinder engines

The retro Audi GT50 concept has been revealed to celebrate the German premium brand’s history of five-cylinder engines, which started with the Audi 100 in 1976.

Audi’s first production five-pot engine displaced just 2.1 litres, and made 100kW. Since then the five-cylinder layout has been deployed in some of Audi’s most famous models, including the Quattro road and rally cars, the RS2 Avant and, most recently, the TT RS.

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While Ford, Volvo and Volkswagen have all used five-cylinder engines in the not-too-distant past, these motors have all been replaced by four-cylinder engines.

Audi’s five-cylinder, and the unique rumble from its 1-2-4-5-3 firing pattern, lives on in the 299kW/500Nm 2.5-litre turbocharged unit powering the latest RS3, which serves as the basis for the GT50 concept.

The only images and details we have about the GT50, which was created over six months by a team of 14 apprentices at Audi’s Neckersulm factory, come via Stimme, a German newspaper, and its associated Instagram page.

This is the fifth year apprentices at Audi’s Neckersulm factory have created a concept, and to turn the RS3 into the GT50 they stripped away the donor car’s doors, roof, bonnet, boot and cabin.

The GT50’s body is fashioned from fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) and the design is inspired by the Audi 90 IMSA GTO and Audi 200 quattro Trans-Am race cars that competed successfully in the US during the 1980s and ‘90s. The GT50’s roof comes from an Audi 80 sedan.

In stark contrast to the RS3, the GT50 has flat surfacing, spare detailing, and blunt front and rear ends. This not only fits with the 90 and 200 sedans it pays homage to, but also makes the concept’s oversized front splitter, large boot lip spoiler, rear diffuser, and pumped up wheel-arches even more apparent.

While the body is a tribute to Audi’s American race cars, the alloy wheels are a nod to the rims fitted to the company’s Le Mans endurance racers.

Other racetrack-inspired features include side exhaust outlets, and the custom-made roll cage.

Previous apprentice concepts include 2023’s NSU EP4, and the 2020 RS6 GTO, which formed the basis of the limited-edition RS6 Avant GT revealed in 2024.

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