Audi confirmed, this week, that when the current R8 goes out of production it will also mark the end of an era for the petrol-powered supercar. That’s because the next generation will move to an electric setup, in tune with the times. That’s right: the Audi R8 successor is bound to be an EV.
This may be sad news for a lot of car enthusiasts but it was definitely coming and it really shouldn’t take anyone by surprise. While many of us have been speculating about the topic, the news was officially confirmed by Audi Sport’s head of product marketing, Linda Kurz, speaking to Roadshow. According to her, the company is looking to transform the “R segment” and that’s one of the ways they are planning to do that. However, it looks like the electric R8 will not arrive sooner than 2023.
Older reports and hints from the car maker also suggest that the R8 badge might actually be completely left behind. That means that the upcoming successor for the very popular supercar, might not wear this badge at all, leaving it to posterity. Instead, we might be looking at a car that, while using a completely different philosophy, will also adopt a different name but it will most likely keep the R letter in its nameplate. This will be a development that will spread into the next decade, according to Audi, so we’re still pretty far off from seeing exactly what the company decides to do.
One of the reasons why the development of this car will take this long might have a lot to do with concerns expressed by Audi on whether the technology is mature enough for such high-performance models. Even though it has cars like the Audi e-tron RS in its range right now, the Ingolstadt-based car maker will be looking for even better performance on its “R” model in the future. Less weight would be idea as would be more power but it’s all a matter of balancing things just right.
