The Audi R8ās life support hasnāt been pulled just yet, but Audi is already well underway with developing the all-electric successor expected to take the mantle as the brandās halo.
According to UK outlet Autocar, insiders have confirmed the Audi R8ās electric car replacement isnāt officially signed off yet, but work on the halo model is advanced enough that we shouldnāt expect Audiās next halo car to resemble the R8, lest share its name. Expect the PB18 concept, from the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours, to be a design influence.
It will, however, be the most powerful model in Audiās range when itās revealed around the middle of this decade. This means it will at least need to top the 440kW/830Nm outputs of the current Audi e-Tron GT RS.
Before then, expect a final edition Audi R8 to be revealed, perhaps even late this year.
For Australia, whether another R8 will arrive locally is up in the air as the Hungarian facility where the R8 is built is no longer producing V10 engines to an Australian specification - i.e, down on power and without a petrol particulate filter.
Also reported by Autocar, and as rumoured as early as 2019, is that the platform for this new Audi electric supercar may be one shared and co-developed with Porsche. Itās also possible a smaller car, in the lineage of the Audi TT, may share a platform with an entry-level Porsche electric car to follow on from the Boxster and Cayman.
Insiders report the platform being developed would stack batteries behind the driver in a manner that replicates a mid-engined weight distribution, convenient for Audi if it uses a similar platform for its next supercar.
Donāt expect it to be a case of badge engineering though, as Audi Sport boss Sebastian Grams told Autocar Audiās utilisation of sister brand technology doesnāt result in amalgamation.
āWe have brands around the Volkswagen Group which can be synergised. Despite being on the same platform, E-tron GT is very unique from Taycan,ā said Gram.
āWe want to make the car different, like we do in the combustion-engined world. Our customers want to differentiate from other models ā in design, bodywork, chassis and performance.ā