Mercedes' TT rival 'not a negative', says Audi

Mercedes-Benz's recent small-car expansion, including everything from a sleeker A-Class to the all-new GLA-Class crossover, has given it a platform to finally combat the Audi TT.

And when Mercedes' answer to the iconic Audi coupe lands by 2019, it has every chance of out-performing and out-gizmo-ing the current TT, which is expected to last around eight years.

Audi's response?

"I don't think it's a negative that other brands want to copy what we do," said Audi Australia's corporate communications chief Anna Burgdorf. "As a brand, we can't lead if no one follows."

Clearly, the fast-growing German luxury brand is not exactly quaking in its boots.

"The TT is an icon for us. What the TT represented in the '90s for us was a complete departure for the brand. We were known for engineering excellence and then we added the ability to design extraordinary looking cars," said Burgdorf.

"We've been there for years, we know how successful the TT can be and there's no frontier that isn't first met by one brand then followed by other brands.

"Mercedes in the past have had the SLK and the TT remained a more popular option," she observed.

The Audi TT has a strong pedigree, co-designed in 1998 by Peter Schreyer, who is now leads the design of Kia and Hyundai.

The influential TT has since been through three generations and Audi Australia's senior product communications executive Shaun Cleary says its significance should not be underestimated.

"For Audi, the TT coupe first appeared in 1998 and it was such an important car because it was before Le Mans, it was before the R8 supercar. It was originally unveiled as an iconic sports car and it was so focussed on design and it pointed to things that have come from Audi for the last decade since.

"For us, TT is vitally important to what Audi is today," he said.

Before Mercedes-Benz releases its as-yet unnamed TT rival, Audi is already plotting an expansion of the hallowed sports car range, with an off-road model coming next.

The third-generation TT coupe was launched in Australia in February, powered exclusively by a beefy 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and sporting an array of advanced equipment, with hot TT-S and Roadster variants to follow in July.

Last month the new TT recorded a 253 per cent sales increase Down Under, from 17 units for the same month in 2014 to 57.