After years of rumors and dithering, it’s now confirmed; the exotic Audi R8 will be in its final year on the market in 2023. The news was confirmed by the company to Car and Driver magazine during a test drive of a new GT version. The latter will mark the end of the road for the one that caused a sensation when it arrived on the market in 2007.
For its final lap, the car will be offered in a 562-hp rear-wheel-drive configuration, a 602-hp quattro prep, as well as a GT configuration which is essentially a 602-hp rear-wheel-drive variant.
At first, the R8 was offered with two powertrains, a 4.2-liter V8 and a 5.2-liter V10. In recent years, only this last mechanism remains.
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The company sells only a handful of copies each year, which means that despite marketing that will have extended over a period of 15 years, the vehicle remains exclusive. The R8 also served as a testbed for the development of all RS models found in the range today.
As for what happens next, there too, there have been many rumors over the years. The latest reports suggest an all-electric variant called RNext is in the works, but an Audi spokesperson denied this to Car and Driver magazine.
We will have to see, but it is hard to imagine that Audi will not offer us a replacement for this R8. We will have to be patient, however, because we will certainly have to wait until the second half of this decade before we see anything land on our roads.