Electric Audi R8 Replacement Arriving Middecade, Report Says

Many have been anxious that the arrival of mass car electrification would suck the enjoyable out of driving, nevertheless it’s clear now that electrical sports activities automobiles can nonetheless ship some critical behind-the-wheel pleasure. Audi has already dabbled in electrifying its most potent performers, however a brand new report makes it sound just like the mid-2020s will carry one thing extra thrilling than something we have but seen from the German automaker.

The alternative for the outgoing Audi R8 can be electrical, and it ought to make its debut middecade, Autocar experiences, citing sources inside Audi. The sources say that the automobile has not been given the official inexperienced mild for manufacturing, however improvement is already underway, retaining the R8’s tenets of being a two-door supercar with extra energy than anything in Audi’s lineup. The report additionally says that it’s going to not be a next-generation R8, however one thing with a brand new identify and a novel design.

Representatives for Audi declined to verify or touch upon something within the report, however automakers routinely decline to debate future merchandise till a time they deem match. If Autocar’s sources are proper with regard to debut timing, it might be upward of a 12 months earlier than Audi is able to begin speaking about an R8 successor.

In late 2021, Audi Sport’s head of product advertising confirmed to CNET that no matter replaces the R8 will, the truth is, be an electrical automobile. This should not come as an enormous shock, because the automaker has additionally confirmed that new autos debuting in 2026 and past can be all-electric. Inner-combustion engines will nonetheless be produced for current car traces past this date, concluding in 2033.

Autocar’s report notes that Audi has two attainable platforms it might use for the R8’s electrical successor. The SSP Sport platform is a chance, set to underpin next-generation variations of the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan EVs. But it surely might additionally use the upcoming platform that may kind the idea for the electrical follow-up to the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman twins.

The present Audi R8 is not finished simply but, although. In line with Autocar’s report, the present R8 will stay in manufacturing by way of the top of 2023. There’ll reportedly be a last special-edition variant, possible choosing rear-wheel drive as a substitute of the automaker’s trademark all-wheel-drive structure, one thing Audi has dabbled with up to now to nice success.