Audi R8 successor will be an all-electric reinvention

Autocar UK reports that the successor of the Audi R8 supercar is being readied for launch sometime in the middle of this decade, and it will see a complete and all-electric reinvention of the four-ringed marque’s halo model. It will also assist in repositioning the brand as a fore-runner in electric vehicles (EVs).

Citing insiders within the brand, the report states that the development is very much underway despite garnering any official approval and sign-off just yet. Autocar further reports that the R8’s successor will drop the R8 moniker altogether, and it will take on a whole new design direction too.

Audi’s planned R8 successor will stay true to its concept as a pure two-door sports car, promising more power than anything present in Audi’s current line-up too. Other technical details remain unconfirmed, though Autocar did suggests that it could underpin the Porsche-developed SSP Sport platform amongst many others that Audi can access from within the Volkswagen Group family.

Speaking to Autocar, Audi Sport head Sebastian Grams is pushing for an all-electric R8 successor, but he also noted that it hasn’t been green-lit for production yet. “I’m fighting for [an R8 successor] and so are the board of Audi,” said Grams further before adding that other different concepts are being looked at too.

“If I get my wish, it will be an R8 that’s electric. And if you do a super-sports car, then it’s a two-door concept,” says Grams. Regardless of the outcome, the exec says the brand will ensure it gets as much precision craftsmanship as the current outgoing R8 does, which is largely handbuilt at the Audi Sport factory in Böllinger Höfe, Germany.

Speaking of the current R8, a run-out model, likely a RWD GT, is widely expected for debut later this year before Audi ceases production of all variants at the end of 2023.