Production of the Audi R8 came to an end after 17 years and two generations launched.
The final example of the mid-engine supercar rolled off the line at a factory in Germany last week, but it’s not destined for a customer. Instead, Audi will keep it at its official museum in Ingolstadt, Germany.
The car was an R8 V10 Performance coupe finished in Vegas Yellow, similar to the one shown here.
Production of the R8 was originally scheduled to end in 2023, but Audi extended production after receiving a flood of orders following last year’s announcement of the disappearance of the car. A special R8 V10 GT RWD model launched at the end of 2022 to mark the car’s running-in.
![2023 Audi R8 2023 Audi R8](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023-audi-r8_100871974_l.jpg)
2023 Audi R8
Audi hasn’t said whether there will be a direct successor to the R8, but if there is, the car will almost certainly be an electric vehicle. Audi plans to launch its last car equipped with an internal combustion engine in 2026, after which the automaker will launch EV-only – and this commitment extends to the Audi Sport division, responsible for the R8.
Perhaps the best representation of what an electric successor to the R8 would look like is Audi’s PB18 E-Tron Concept launched in 2018. The concept presented solid state batteries, which are lighter than current liquid-type batteries and faster to charge. It’s a technology that Audi’s Volkswagen Group parent company is preparing for the second half of the decade.
The R8’s corporate cousin, the Lamborghini Huracán, is also on its way out. A successor arrives at the end of 2024and it is recommended to use a version of Revuelto carbon fiber platform and a new V-8 plug-in hybrid powertrain.
The R8 was conceived as a way to celebrate Audi’s success in endurance racing, as well as to spread the investment cost of the Lamborghini-branded Gallardo supercar, also from the Volkswagen Group. The R8 was introduced at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show by the Audi Le Mans Quattro concept and would reach US shores as a 2008 model. Initially it was powered exclusively by a 4.2-liter V-8, but a few years later the Audi put the Gallardo’s 5.2-liter V-10 into the R8, in the process creating one of the first exotic cars that could be used daily. driver.