Remember the Audi TT Quattro Sport Concept that debuted back in 2014? Probably not, since Audi hasn't made anything of it, or its centerpiece, a 420-hp version of VW Group's familiar EA888 2.0-liter four-cylinder. Audi wanted to put that engine into production, but then it went and stuck a new 400-hp five-cylinder in the TT RS. Now, the 420-hp turbo four is officially dead.

Autoblog reports that Audi cancelled the project in response to the mounting expenses of Volkswagen's ongoing diesel cheating scandal. Initially, the automaker wanted to develop four- and five-cylinders making around 400 hp alongside each other, but instead will focus on the latter in the TT RS and upcoming RS3.

"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," Audi Quattro's engineering head Stephan Reil told Autoblog.

It's unclear if this Audi engine was also intended for the 395-hp Golf R 400, but given the power figure, one has to assume it's at least similar. In any case, the Golf R 400 was cancelled earlier this year–another victim of the diesel scandal.

Certain aspects of the Quattro Sport Concept engine live on in the TT RS: Audi's new five-cylinder uses a very similar architecture to the EA888 four-cylinder. In any case, we think a five-cylinder is the right choice for the TT RS, as it recalls Audi's game-changing five-banger rally cars of the 1980s.

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