Audi TT and Volkswagen Scirocco may return on electric Porsche underpinnings – report

The Audi TT and Volkswagen Scirocco may return as battery-electric sports cars using Porsche Boxster and Cayman underpinnings. 

A report from Autocar claims the Scirocco – last sold in 2017 – and the TT, which went off sale in recent months, may make a return to showrooms from 2028 using an electric Porsche platform, instead of their previous Volkswagen foundations.

Previously the TT and Scirocco were based upon the Volkswagen Golf hatchback – in the Audi’s case, the A3, itself using Golf underpinnings – and were both front-engined, front-wheel-drive vehicles.

Volkswagen has confirmed the next-generation Golf – due in 2028 – will be only offered in electric guise, including an electric version of the Golf GTI hot hatch.

It will use Volkswagen’s new SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) but will not form the basis of a new TT or Scirocco.

Instead, Autocar says the new dedicated electric platform used for battery-powered versions of the 2025 Boxster and Cayman – called Porsche PPE – will underpin as many as four new sports models across the Volkswagen Group. 

As well as the 983-generation Boxster/Cayman, TT and Scirocco, the platform could also be used to create a showroom version of the Cupra Dark Rebel electric concept, shown at the 2023 Munich motor show as a potential rival to the Nissan Z sports car.

The Porsche PPE platform is clearly suited for a two-door sports car and has the stiffness required for a convertible – a TT staple – given its primary role underneath the Boxster convertible and Cayman two-door coupe.

This would easily cater for the Audi TT but would allow the Volkswagen Scirocco – which began as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia sports car, but evolved into a restyled Golf – a genuine sports car identity. 

Adding further credit to the theory is the Porsche PPE’s ability to host body styles with low floors to suit sports models, while also allowing different wheelbase lengths, track widths, as well as rear- and all-wheel-drive capability. 

It can also house single, dual, and triple electric motor configurations and has a centrally-mounted battery pack – as seen in the 2021 Porsche Mission R Concept – easily catering for the different requirements of various model spin-offs.

The Scirocco went on sale in Europe months (ahead of the Mark 1 Golf it was based) on in 1974. 

It was not sold in Australia until 2011 when the third-generation – based on the Mark 6 Volkswagen Golf – was sold in high-spec ‘R’ trim as an alternative to the five-door Golf R performance model.

The Audi TT was sold in Australia from 1999 to 2023.