Audi R8

Audi R8 at a glance

The R8 took its name from Audi's Le Mans-winning racing prototype and brought the brand's quattro technology and design to the supercar class. It is built by Audi's high-performance division, and its structure uses an aluminium space frame. The brand's story is told in the history of Audi, and models from the Audi TT to the Audi Q8 are in the Audi catalogue.

First generation (Type 42, 2006–2015)

Development and design

The Le Mans quattro concept appeared at the 2003 Frankfurt and Geneva shows, and Frank Lamberty's design was frozen for production in 2004. Prototypes began testing in January 2006, and the production R8 debuted at the Paris Motor Show in 2006. The R8 shares its chassis, floorpan and V10 engine with the Lamborghini Gallardo. Its "sideblades" behind the doors and the engine visible under the rear glass became signature features. The 2012–2013 facelift brought the single-frame grille, standard LED headlights and the seven-speed S tronic gearbox, and Magnetic Ride damping became standard on the V10.

Type 42 engines and performance

Gearboxes were a six-speed manual with a metal gate sourced from Lamborghini, the six-speed R tronic automated manual (2007–2012) and the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch from 2012. The Spyder was unveiled with the V10 at the 2009 Frankfurt show, and a V8 Spyder followed in 2011. Limited runs included the GT and GT Spyder (333 of each), the Limited Edition (100), the China Edition (80), the V10 Limited Edition (30) and the Competition (60 for the USA).

Type 42 dimensions

Safety equipment includes Bosch ESP 8.0 with ABS, brakeforce distribution, traction control and an electronic differential lock, dual-stage front airbags and sideguard curtain airbags.

Second generation (Type 4S, 2015–2024)

Revealed at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, the second R8 moved to the Modular Sports System platform shared with the Lamborghini Huracán and was built at the Böllinger Höfe plant in Heilbronn. It was offered only with the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch gearbox, with quattro all-wheel drive or, from the V10 RWS of 2017, rear-wheel drive.

The facelift, announced in October 2018 and on sale in Europe from early 2019, brought new bumpers, grille and side skirts, a petrol particulate filter and larger brakes. The R8 GT of 2022–2023 was a farewell edition of 333 cars with reduced weight and upgraded handling.

R8 e-tron

A first R8 e-tron prototype appeared at the 2011 Frankfurt show and set an electric lap record at the Nürburgring of 8:09.099 in June 2012. The production R8 e-tron of 2015 uses two rear electric motors with 340 kW (462 PS) and 919 Nm, a 92 kWh battery and a range of about 450 km, reaching 250 km/h; fewer than 100 were sold. Audi's later electric models include the Audi e-tron SUV.

Racing

The R8 LMS GT3 race car won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2012. The second-generation R8 LMS GT3 uses a 430 kW (585 PS) racing V10 and weighs 1,225 kg, the R8 LMS GT2 of 2019 has about 640 hp and won the 24 Hours of Zolder outright in 2022, and the R8 LMS GT4 produces 496 PS.

Rivals: how the R8 compares

The R8 competed with the Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Huracán, Ferrari's V8 models, the McLaren Sports Series and the Mercedes-AMG GT. Its strengths are everyday usability for a supercar, a magnificent naturally aspirated V10, quattro traction and high build quality; its weaknesses are a small luggage space and high running costs. Other Audi performance models include the Audi S6.