It looks as if there will be no new Audi RS4 - at least for the foreseeable future - since Audi appears to have sacrificed its compact super-saloon/estate in order to hurry up the arrival of the next RS6.
The decision doesn't appear to have been taken until the last minute, however, as The RS4 has already been caught in the prototype stage.
It might seem strange to cancel a car so close to fruition, but it does seem telling that Audi is talking up its S6,S7 and S8 triplets (powered by the new turbocharged V8) for 2012, but makes no mention of the RS4.
There is also a feeling that an RS4, expected to use the same 450hp V8 as the RS5, would rather step on the corporate super-saloon toes of the forthcoming RS6.
Of course, as is so often the case with internet rumour-age, there is also a counter-story. In this case it's the fact that the B8-generation Audi RS4 could get a reprieve in late 2013, in estate form only, and destined just for European markets. That, too, would make sense as 'RS' Audis have traditionally been launched towards the end of model lifecycles.
And Audi even has resurrection form with the RS4 - the last B7 almost never made it to production, if contemporary rumours are to be believed.
