2023 Audi R8 to electrify!
Audi Sport boss says nat-atmo V10 won’t survive, name might change tooSORRY free-breathing purists, the next Audi R8 will abandon natural aspiration and will include some form of drivetrain electrification when it is launched in 2023.
And just to add salt to the wound, it may not be called R8.
That was the word from the managing director of Audi Sport, Oliver Hoffmann, speaking to Australian journalists in Europe last week.
The mid-engined R8 has been the naturally-aspirated V8 and then V10 jewel in Audi’s crown since it was first launched in 2007. Generation two was introduced in 2016 and updated at the beginning of 2019.
Conjecture about the future of R8 has been feverish for months with some media reports suggesting natural-aspiration could be retained, while at the other extreme there are stories predicting tightening emissions regualtions will force its replacement by an electric sports car.
While Audi Sport - Audi’s hot tuner also is in charge of RS models - has yet to make an official call on R8, Hoffmann made some pretty clear predictions about where it was heading.
“I don’t think we will develop a successor of the current model (R8) with just a fully naturally aspirated engine or with a normal combustion engine,” Hoffmann said bluntly.
“We will have electrification for the R8 in the future, but which kind of electrification there is no decision yet. We are working on the concept, we are in contact with our board, but there is no decision yet regarding the concept of the next R8.”
Asked about the R8 name’s future beyond 2023, he responded: “We don’t know yet, there’s no decision.”
Audi offers three levels of electrification in production cars; 12V and 48V mild-hybrid, the latter with and without electric compression; plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.
It has also recently ramped up its development efforts on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
“We have some very, very interesting concepts regarding the (R8 successor) powertrain, but also regarding the whole vehicle concept,” revealed Hoffmann. “There is no decision which kind of powertrain and which kind of electrification we will implement.”
Audi Sport will make its first major electrification play when it launches the e-tron GT BEV in late 2020. That vehicle is based on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan, but will built alongside the R8 at Audi Sport’s boutique Böllinger Höfe assembly plant in Germany.
In 2023 it has been reported Audi Sport will launch a super-sports car named the GTR, which will be powered by solid state rather than lithium-ion batteries and have three motors producing 490kW. This car will reportedly be a limited edition.
Hoffmann wouldn’t respond directly when asked about the GTR, instead choosing to speak in more general terms.
“The R8 and the concept of the super-sport car is important for Audi and the R8 was a success for Audi for the brand and we think - and also our board members think - that we have to develop those kinds of icons and a super-sport car is important also for Audi Sport.”
Hoffmann made it clear there would be plenty more happening with the current generation R8 before it is replaced, potentially – among other things - a reference to a stripper high-performance rear-wheel drive version based on the GT3 racer.
“We will surprise you for sure with some special models of the R8 in the current lifecycle,” he said.
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