At this moment, nothing is fixed.
Although Audi doesn’t oppose an all-electric supercar it’s still too early to know if it will happen. The brand’s CEO stated earlier this year that an electric R8 ” ” could make sense, but it’s not a confirmed fact. We knew what the new R8 would look like and now we know what it will not be.
Hildegard Wortmann is Audi’s global chief sales and marketing officer. She spoke to TopGear regarding the company’s future models. While she confirmed that Audi will be launching more electric vehicles this year than its combustion models, a new R8 is not on the horizon for 2021.
“The R8 is an iconic symbol of our brand. However, icons from the past may not be the same as icons for the future. The R8’s successor will not be an R8 with an electrical motor. She stated that it must be an R8 with a different motor.
We can see the good and bad in every sentence. Wortmann seems to suggest that there may not be a supercar successor. If Audi does decide to build one, which is possible, it could be electric and quite different from the current model.
The same goes for the TT, another brand-owned sports car that could be reinvented in the future. Considering the shift in customer preferences towards larger, more practical and higher-quality vehicles, this doesn’t seem likely.
“The same holds true. Wortmann said that while the TT is authentic, highly emotional, customers have changed and the world has moved away from roadster cars. Although this doesn’t sound optimistic, Audi has done emotional models for years and there is no reason to believe that this will change.