SPY PICS: New Audi RS 3 sedan takes shape

Europe might be in the middle of a deep freeze but that hasn’t stopped development of the new Audi RS 3 sedan.

Spotted by our spy photographers testing in Sweden this month, the new RS 3 sedan has been slated set to arrive in Australia early next year as a rival to the freshly-landed Mercedes-AMG CLA 45.

Borrowing cues from the new garden-variety A3 shown only weeks ago, the Audi RS 3 spotted here features signature bulbous guards, a wider track and aggressive styling treatments.

Beneath the cladding, the front-end is headlined by gaping air intakes, a reworked version of Audi’s signature grille and new LED headlights. At the rear the RS 3 retains its oval exhaust tips and gets a subtle boot lip spoiler.

Looking closer at these spy photos, there are crossed-drilled brake rotors and big brake callipers to look forward to, though the production version will no doubt trade spiked winter tyres for grippy summer alternatives.

Our photographers on the ground say the RS 3 mule in question featured Audi’s distinctive five-cylinder engine. Expect a power hike above the current 2.5-litre’s 294kW/480Nm outputs.

Elsewhere, Audi’s all-wheel drive quattro system will feature as standard, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic – bringing a nought to 100 dash of about four seconds.

Until recently, Audi Australia’s supply of the current RS 3 sedan and Sportback had dried up due to WLTP-related delays. The first of those models are set to arrive next month.

Next cab off the rank is set to be the new S3, which will follow in the A3’s wheel tracks before the RS 3 hopefully touches down late 2020 or early 2021, Coronavirus impacts obviously pending.