It was not entirely unexpected: Audi wants to make EVs sexy and reduce the average emissions of its range, so makes its sexiest car emissions free.
A shame? In a way. But with every R8 since the very first, Audi has gradually fattened and diluted its mid-engined supercar. That first V8 was so good, so agile, so communicative and so deft-riding that it won our Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest in 2007. The V10 made it heavier and therefore worse and more expensive, so it has never been close since. So the shame isn’t necessarily the death of the V10, but that the R8 had lost much of what made it so brilliant the first time around.
The ever-evolving world of the Audi R8:
Audi R8 Le Mans Prototype 2000 – The race car that inspired the R8 road car was launched in 2000 and promptly won that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. It went on to take five Le Mans wins in six years, from 2000 until 2005.
