It might be hard to believe, but the understated design is already five years old (revealed at 2006 Paris Auto Show), and judging by how many cars have reached the 100,000 kilometer mark and are offered for sale on second hand auction sites, it’s time for a facelift soon.
The picture you are seeing, provided by the guys at Fourtitude.com, might reveal a new front end for the mighty supercar. This is actually a design mock-up of the front-end, but the upcoming changes are evident. Instead of the old oval grille, we now see Audi’s new hexagonal one, with an edge where it meets the lights.
LEDs are all over the place, and the lights are much more aggressive. If the shape is agreed upon, this might mean the headlight will stretch from the quarter panel entirely to the grille. While we can’t say anything about the
The grille mesh has also been changed from the current crisscross design to a hole-style mesh that resembles some RS models.
A bit of nip and tuck won’t get anybody’s attention, but the changes coming on the engine front will. Test mules have reportedly been sported with both the 2.5-liter TFSI and 3.0-liter TFSI units pushing their force induced grunt only to the rear wheels. "It's all part of Audi's experimentation in downsizing," said one source, and we’re not exactly glad to hear it.
However, the production changes won’t be as radical, as the supercar formula isn’t yet diverse enough for people to like looking at five-pots through their engine covers. The facelifted R8 will most likely keep its V8 and V10 and won’t adopt the new 4.0-liter twin turbo.
Fourtitude.com says that production on the dual-clutch S-tronic gearbox that will replace the single clutch R-tronic will begin “as early as week 39” of 2011. Given how Audi’s schedules are made, this might mean we’ll get to see a concept R8 facelift in Frankfurt, with deliveries next year. Oh boy, oh boy!
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