Only expected to arrive next year following the more placid SQ3, the RS Q3, in spite of the prominent black-and-white wrapping, distinguishes itself from the regular Q3 in that it gets extended door sills, a honeycomb take on the Singleframe grille, wider air vents and wheel arches, RS alloy wheels and at the rear, dual oval exhaust outlets, an integrated diffuser and a sportier roof spoiler.

Although the prototype spotted by motor1.com did come with a roll cage, this will more than likely be removed and replaced by a RS take on the standard Q3’s interior, which will include sport seats, aluminium or carbon fibre inserts and a RS specific version of the 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster.

Up front, the RS Q3 is expected to retain the 2.5-litre TFSI engine as before, but updated to produce the same 294kW/480Nm as the RS3. As ever, the five-cylinder mill will be connected to a seven-speed S tronic gearbox with the amount twist being transferred to the road via Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system.

With the output eclipsing that of the previous RS Q3 (250kW/450Nm) and indeed the RS Q3 Performance (270kW/465Nm), the newcomer’s performance is likely to improve on the latter’s acceleration time of 4.4 seconds, while the top speed could be limited to 280km/h instead of 250km/h.

More details are expected to be revealed in the coming months.