Audi expects the last R8 to be built by the end of March, so it is not completely done yet
2023 marked the end for the Audi TT sports car and the R8 sports car was also supposed to reach its curtain call shortly after but apparently this is no longer the case. Although the initial plan was to end production of the V10 supercar before 2024, the naturally aspirated machine lives on due to its insane demand keeping it in production a while longer.
Speaking with German business paper Automobilwoche, Audi confirmed that the R8 is still in production at the Böllinger Höfe factory. This is fantastic news as last year saw many prolific nameplates in the world of supercars and sports cars take their final bow so the fact that the Audi R8 is still in production until March is a breath of fresh air.
Moreover, sales of the Audi R8 doubled last year in the United States as Americans bought 631 units in 2023, an increase of 101 percent compared to the year before where only 314 Audi R8 units were sold. The plan now is to end R8 production at the end of March 2024, a delay of about three months compared to the initial schedule.
On top of that, since the Lamborghini Huracan, which shares its V10 engine with the Audi R8 is also set to lose its V10 for a more economical option soon, the R8 will also no longer feature the roaring V10. Well, I suppose you can’t win every battle, so while we do ultimately lose the V10, at least we get to see the R8 stay in production a bit longer.
However, Audi Sport isn’t abandoning the idea of having a top of the range supercar in its lineup as there have been a few hints thrown in here and there that we may be seeing an electrified version of the R8 sometime in the future. How this will be received by the general public remains to be seen, but I am not very hopeful.
This is because Audi has already technically made an electric R8. However, it was a commercial flop as the R8 E-Tron was discontinued after fewer than 100 units were sold. It came out at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show and was available for only about a year in Europe where it was not well received at all, so I hope Audi learned their lesson there already.
We got all this from Motor 1 and their full article is linked here. Thank you Motor 1 for the information and images.
