If you’ve been following along with the rumors surrounding a close-out final edition of the current Audi RS 3 then this story is worth taking note. A previous contact @mastachazrs on Instagram has shared further details of what he says is the upcoming car and the evidence he’s providing is both compelling and detailed. I touched on some of what he sent last week and with these new details have created the renderings you see here.
Before digging in, it’s worth sharing this disclaimer. What I’m sharing is rumor from a relatively new player in this rumor space. The evidence being provided is compelling and my guess is that it’s likely accurate, but we never know for sure until the actual car drops.
Now, let’s go over it point-by-point.
MACRO VIEW WHAT IT IS
The car is listed as the RS 3 Competition Limited – “competition” a name that we’ve seen before for a slightly augmented model and “limited” new to this lexicon though seems logical given it’ll be a limited run of cars like the RS 6 GT and the RS 4 Edition 25 Years run-outs. According to the intel, there will be 750 units though whether that’s 750 sedans and possibly more Sportback’s remains to be seen.
This evidence seems to confirm there WILL be a sedan, which means sale in North America is highly likely. While we’ve only seen Sportback test mules with tell-tale canards on the front bumper, the evidence provided to me suggests both Sedan and Sportback version, though not always with canards (i.e. aerodynamic flicks on the leading edge of the front bumper a la R8 GT).
EXTERIOR SPOTTER’S GUIDE
According to the information, this car will have a unique appearance that’s relatively easy to spot. No, it won’t have the eye-searing Audi Sport stripes of the RS 6 GT but it will be unique. It appears Audi will follow the lead of other cars like the U.S.-spec RS 6 Bronze Edition by leaning into Neodym finish on the wheels and red on the brakes for an overall appearance that is loosely aligned with Audi F1’s new racing colors – not a bad thing to be sure.
Wheels are said to be 19-inch “LMS design” wheels that, for the purpose of these renderings, I guessed to be the mesh-style wheel offered on the RS 3 already and that loosely harken the RS 3 LMS wheels. I haven’t found an example of those wheels listed as “LMS design” elsewhere so it could be an all-new design, but given the lateness of production I’d assume it would make more sense to place a different finish on an existing wheel and Neodym Gold Matte finish on these wheels would be a new and striking combination.
Brakes will be red as mentioned, with the upgraded Audi Carbon Ceramic at the front.
The suspension is also said to be an adjustable coilover configuration. Audi has worked with coilover supplier KW before in the cases of the Audi R8 performance parts, TT RS performance parts, RS 6 GT and RS 4/RS 5 competition plus so this part of the rumor seems both logical and likely. It also fits the “track special” nature of what’s been rumored already and might help this RS 3’s Nürburgring lap time should that be a priority (again).
Carbon fiber will be an exterior theme – specifically matte carbon fiber. Think front and rear spoiler (roof spoiler on the Sportback and deck lid spoiler on the Sedan), side moldings and mirror housings. The engine cover will also be carbon fiber.
Though not mentioned by name, that grille is hard to miss. We noticed this component in what was sent over earlier for its more simplified cross-hatch patterning and what looks like segmented airflow areas on the outer edges that we haven’t seen on any other RS 3 to date. That grille design has been added to this rendering as well.
Branding is also worth drawing attention to here. First and foremost, the car will have “RS Heritage” badges. It’s fairly safe to assume that this means the so-called “tri-colore” heritage badges we saw on the RS 6 GT rather than the all-red rhombus seen on the standard RS 3.
While “heritage” on the rhombus, I don’t expect the italic font. The RS 3 has already shifted to the newer non-italic font that doesn’t overlap the rhombus at the rear and the new RS 3 badge we can now see in the brand’s configuration tool.
Okay, so some people may not like the non-italic. It doesn’t bother me but, more importantly, it separates out the rhombus from the lettering on the rest of the rear badge. For those of you wanting to add a ‘heritage badge” to your non-italic Audi, this means you’ll get your chance. OEM plus watchers will want to take notice here.
In addition to that the car will include RS 3 Competition Limited nomenclature frosted on the side windows, door sills and puddle lights like we saw on the RS 4 Edition 25 Years.
WHAT COLOR WILL IT BE?
My guess is multiple colors will be offered. The RS 6 GT and RS 4 Edition 25 Years both came with multiple color combinations – at least in Europe. The RS 5 competition, another model that did come to the USA with coilovers, was offered in all RS 5 colors and even a few Audi exclusive builds happened. My guess is, given the limited run, they’ll choose a short list of colors that pair well with the Neodym and red and then lock out Audi exclusive as they did with the RS 6 and RS 4.
For the USA and Canada should we get it will it be just one color as before? That likely depends on expected volumes. The USA has shown a repeated pattern of keeping it simple for some reason, so it’s quite likely we’ll see that again here. Time will tell on this.
WHEN CAN WE EXPECT IT?
Everything we’ve heard before from other sources in the media to contacts within Audi suggest the car will arrive toward the end of 2026 and likely as a MY2027 model. Like the RS 6 GT, this car is expected to be a limited run late in lifecycle but not the absolute final run-out of the RS 3 (type 8Y). My guess is that we’ll have this RS 3 with us at least until the end of the 2027 model year.
PHOTO GALLERY
