Volkswagen's 400-HP Four-Cylinder Engine is Dead
The cost of Volkswagen’s diesel scandal has claimed another victim.
According to a recent report from Autoblog, the German automaker has officially killed off its 400-horsepower, four-cylinder EA888 engine because it would cost too much to produce. The news comes from Stephan Reil, the engineering boss of Audi’s Quattro GmbH division.
The engine was first shown in the 2014 Audi TT Quattro Sport Concept, sporting 420 hp from a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The same powerplant arguably became more famous when it was used to power the Golf R 400, which recently got axed as a result of dieselgate.
SEE ALSO: Volkswagen Kills the Golf R 400, You Can Blame Dieselgate
Conceived and developed by Friedrich Eichler, the same man behind AMG’s powerful 2.0-liter four-cylinder mill, the EA888 engine was developed to drop into the automaker’s MQB architecture. That meant the powerful engine could be used on various models that needed a boost in performance.
But since then, Audi has focused on its five-cylinder engine that is used in the TT RS. While the four-cylinder motor provided 420 hp and 332 pound-feet of torque in the TT Quattro Sport Concept, the production TT RS generates 400 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque. “If we go for the four, to have that specific power output from a 2.0-liter, the engine is unbelievably expensive and then we still have only a four-cylinder engine,” said Reil.
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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Of course it only produced that HP and torque when its software knew it was on a dyno...
meanwhile AMG is doing it in the CLA45 and GLA45 :)