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Audi R8: No replacement planned – report

German supercar may be killed off after current generation


There's no denying the Audi R8 is a fantastic supercar, but it may not be getting a replacement in the long term, according to a new report out of the US.

Speaking with Car and Driver at the 2018 Geneva motor show, Audi's R&D boss, Peter Mertens, said there are no current plans for a new-generation model.

"I would say so," he said, when asked if there was no successor for the V10-engined supercar in the pipeline, though he added: "Never say never – performance cars are good for Audi".

One reason could be that Audi is planning a range of electric and plug-in hybrid versions of its next-generation products – meaning a greater amount of its development budget will be spent these new powertains.

Mertens also confirmed with Car and Driver that high-performance versions of all three powertrain types (combustion, PHEV and EV) will be offered.

"There will be very traditional combustion-engine high-performance vehicles, pure battery-electric vehicles on the high-performance side, and our sister brand Porsche also very much proves with their plug-in hybrids that the combination of both is a fantastic answer as well," he said.

It probably doesn't help, either, that Audi once offered an all-electric R8 e-tron, which was killed off due to high costs and slow sales.

However, it's not the be-all and end-all just yet. The report claims Audi "is known" to be working on the rumoured twin-turbo V6 entry-level version of the R8, though a reveal/launch date is not specified.

Early rumours of such a model first surfaced two years ago, with power expected to come from the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 used in the new RS4, RS5 and Porsche Panamera.

Making 331kW and 600Nm in the RS4 and RS5, the new engine should be more than enough to propel the R8 from 0-100km/h in under 4.0 seconds while using significantly less fuel than the current 5.2-litre V10 shared with the Lamborghini Huracan.

We'll have to wait and see, however, whether any of the publication's claims turn out to be true. Stay tuned.

Should Audi kill the R8? Would you buy a V6 base model?

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