Professional rally driver, co-founder of DC Shoes, and co-owner of Hoonigan Industries, Ken Block has partnered up with Audi. Formerly a sweetheart of the Ford Motor Company, the man behind the Gymkhana series will help the German automaker with its electromobility agenda.
Owned by the Volkswagen Group, the Ingolstadt-based automaker has confirmed that the development of new internal combustion engines will grind to a halt in 2026. ICE-powered Audis will continue to be sold into the 2030s, but regardless, battery-electric vehicles represent the future.
“Electrification is a game changer, just like quattro all-wheel drive once was,” said Audi Sport managing director Julius Seebach. “With Ken Block, we’ve got exciting things in store that go perfectly with our strategy.” The 53-year-old rally driver appears to embrace the all-electric revolution as well although internal combustion was - and still is - central to his career.
“I love anything that makes me go faster. Electric cars can do that. And as far as sound goes, I have kids who don’t care about that,” declared Block. It’s a pity the youngsters don’t find internal combustion exciting from the standpoint of aural pleasure, but I understand the generational gap because I, for example, don’t find TikTok appealing. Who said, OK, boomer?
Jokes aside, Ken is right. Battery-electric vehicles are inherently quicker off the line because an electric motor generates torque much quicker than a twin-turbo LS or an ear-splitting V12. With the financial might of the Volkswagen Group and the engineering excellence of Porsche, the four-ringed automaker is certain to develop better electric vehicles in due time.
The RS e-tron GT is the range-topping Audi electric vehicle right now. Twinned with the Porsche Panamera on the J1 platform, the dual-motor sedan is capable of covering the quarter-mile in just under 11 seconds, fully stock. In other words, even the R8 supercar would lose a drag race against it.
From the USA to Germany, we are welcoming an iconic driver to the Audi family. Get ready for a new type of high performance.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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