autoevolution
 

Audi Exec: R8 EV Successor To Be "Special," Part of Massive EV Ramp Up

Like most other German carmakers, Audi's initial EV efforts have been pretty tentative. It opened the ball with the rather forgettable e-tron SUV, a vehicle that would have probably gone completely unnoticed if it hadn't come with video cameras for wing mirrors.
Audi R8 e-tron electric supercar rendering 19 photos
Photo: Gabriel Arruda via Instagram
Audi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi e-tron supercar (R8) renderingAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron conceptAudi A6 e-tron concept
Since then, though, things have been on an upward trajectory, all culminating with the release of the brilliant e-tron GT, a car best described as Audi's answer to Porsche's also brilliant Taycan. An aggressive-looking sloped back sedan is just what the doctor prescribed, and the four-ringed brand isn't stopping here.

We'll leave the Q4 e-tron and Q4 e-tron Sportback aside for now as they don't quite support our "upward trajectory" theory (you wouldn't put these two above the GT, would you?) and focus on the A6 e-tron Concept introduced at this month's Auto Shanghai motor show. While still a concept, that thing is the perfect illustration of why we should be looking forward to future Audi EVs.

And it seems like there's going to be a lot to look forward to. Talking to British magazine/website/TV show Top Gear, Audi's global chief of sales and marketing, Hildegard Wortmann, revealed the company is gearing up for a 20-strong EV range by the end of 2025. That sounds huge, but then you realize the end of 2025 is four-and-a-half years from now, so with four EVs already out, that means 16 new ones in four years. So, an average of four a year.

Well, it's been nearly ten years since Tesla launched the Model S, and it only has four models in total to show for, so it's not so much how many body styles you're selling that counts, but the actual number of sales. For an established carmaker like Audi, though, having a greater variety shouldn't be a problem, and diversity always helps (at least to a point beyond which it can become distracting).

It’s a strong commitment. The future is electric. By the end of 2025 we will have 20 EVs, plus more plug-in hybrids,” Mrs. Wortmann said. Naturally, with Top Gear being Top Gear, they wanted to know about a possible successor to the R8. “The R8 is an icon of our brand," the Audi exec replied. "But icons of the past aren’t necessarily icons of the future. A successor to the R8 won’t just be an R8 with an electric motor. It needs to be an R8 but different.”

No, what it needs to be is a two-seat (four is OK too since the EV architecture might allow it) supercar with AWD and super-duper performance. A cool styling might help too. Hell, if it looked like this rendering we showed you only a few days ago, it would sell like the proverbial hotcakes.

We're not completely aware of the Volkswagen Group's internals and inter-brand collaborations, but we know Porsche holds a stake in a Croatian company called Rimac. This small company is about to launch its second model, one that will instantly become the world's quickest production car, as proven in this clip where it does the quarter-mile in 8.94 seconds on an old runway covered in dust.

If Porsche can leverage some of that know-how and then lend it to Audi for a car with half the performance (after developing one for themselves with three-quarters of it, of course), then we're pretty sure the designers in Ingolstadt could take care of the rest and come up with a more than worthy R8 successor. That's the best-case scenario. Worst case? It's December 31st, 2025, and Audi still hasn't released an all-electric sports car. Yeah, we'll survive either way.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)

Editor's note: Audi e-tron supercar rendering and Audi A6 e-tron Concept shown in the gallery

About the author: Vlad Mitrache
Vlad Mitrache profile photo

"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories