Audi hasn’t stopped building its R8 supercar after all. The beloved low-slung coupe with the contrast-color side vents was scheduled to exit after the 2023 model year. But a new report says the factory continues to build them. Audi dealers are still finding customers for the 10-cylinder performance flagship.
Germany’s Automobilewoche (Automobile Week) reports, in translation, “Audi’s R8 sports car model was actually scheduled to expire at the end of 2023,” the company is now “extending production at the Böllinger Höfe factory in Heilbronn until the end of March.”
An Audi spokesperson told Motor1, “The last Audi R8 will leave the production line at the end of the first quarter of 2024.” That gives the car a three-month stay of execution.
Sales, it seems, picked up when cancelation rumors started. Supercar sales are almost always slow, but Kelley Blue Book numbers show that Audi sold 118 R8s in the U.S. in December — up from 34 a year earlier.
When the R8 does finally exit, we expect an all-electric replacement. Audi has promised to go all-electric. That will likely mean an electric supercar. Audi’s 4-door e-tron GT is already capable of a 0-60 sprint in 3.1 seconds, the company says — 0.1 seconds faster than the much smaller R8.
