Audi Confirms The R8’s Successor Will Be Entirely Electric

Audi intends to continue producing thrilling performance vehicles, but when it comes to the R class, it is relying on batteries.

We’re not sure if the R8 as we know it will survive, but whatever succeeds it will be electric. Audi Sport’s head of product marketing, Linda Kurz, revealed to Roadshow on Wednesday that the next car will not have an internal-combustion engine.

Audi Sport‘s first foray into electric performance was the E-Tron GT “The “next challenge“ will be to work on “transforming the R segment, and the R segment will be fully electric. This will be our job for the next decade.” She stated. To be clear, this does not imply that we will see a new-generation R8, but whatever replaces Audi Sport’s halo car will be entirely electric, regardless of whether it is called an R8 or not.

This will begin to happen rather rapidly. Aside from cars in the R class, RS badged vehicles will aggressively invest in electrification, according to Kurz. By 2026, 80%t of the RS lineup will be electrified, including upcoming entirely electric RS-badged cars. None of this comes as a surprise, but the rate at which we’ll start seeing silent Audi R vehicles and RS-badged automobiles zipping around is impressive.

The R8 as we know it lives on with the V10 Performance variant, available in both rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive configurations. Last year, Audi said goodbye to the previous “entry-level” R8 V10 Quattro. As a consolation reward, everybody purchasing an R8 these days will receive 610 horsepower, up from 562 hp in the standard R8 model.