Audi will say goodbye to the V10
“Audi RS follows the parent company’s all-electric strategy. This is [het plan] with our S and RS models. If we build a new kind of super sports car, it will be electric. He follows our strategy, our vision, towards an all-electric future,” said RS boss Sebastian Grams. In short: the successor to the Audi R8 will be electric. If he gets there.
This means that Audi will eventually say goodbye to the V10 and that the brand’s next sports car will not be fraternal twins with the Lamborghini Huracán, or its successor. It’s the first time Grams has confirmed out loud that the next R8 won’t be a hybrid or run on a smaller engine. It will certainly be batteries and electric motors. Expect the car – again, if it comes – in the middle of this decade.
How much power will the successor of the Audi R8 get?
Rimac builds EV hypercars with 2,000 hp, can we expect something like this from Audi? ‘The power and the performance [van supercars] are currently increasing exponentially with all-electric supercars,” notes Grams. “But I don’t think you need that much strength.” In fact, he thinks you can’t lose power: “If you’re building a lightweight car, you don’t need 2,000 horsepower to have fun on the road. Physics will always limit the performance you can use, even on the track. It doesn’t matter anymore whether you have 2,500 hp or 2,000 hp.’
Audi previously built an electric R8, but they only sold about five of them to collectors. We asked what will prevail: power or range? “We have to build a car that is fun, but the range is a factor. There are other important topics, such as sound, and what features you can have – like the RS Torque Rear mode in the RS 3 – a kind of fun mode,” Grams says.
A car from Audi and Porsche?
Audi recently tightened its ties with Porsche. Audi was allowed to develop the e-tron GT on the platform of the Taycan. A Q6 e-tron is also expected to be launched, on which Porsche bases the fully electric Macan. Does this mean the new all-electric R8 will get an electric Porsche sister car? A super-Cayman perhaps, or even a successor to the 918 Spyder? Or something like the PB18 e-tron, as you can see in the gallery above? For now, we are still in the dark…
