Next Audi R8: Much the Same, But Different

Given that SUVs, Crossover SUVS and pick-up trucks account for 80 percent of U.S. car sales, it’s clear we’ve become a nation of truck drivers. It’s slowly killed off sedans, and is slowing sales of sports cars, which have never been stellar, but serve as the shiny bauble that lures buyers into showrooms before they buy something else. 

And so it is with the Audi R8, which has survived the past few years even as whispers of its demise continue to surface. But this year is indeed its last, following in the path of the now-departed Audi TT, as the gas-powered R8 is about to face the same fate.

Sources told Autocar last year that Audi is working on an electric R8 successor, something that will come early in the SSP’s life cycle. It will retain its race-bed characteristics, as well as its two doors, and immense power. Like the current car, it will be partially hand built. 

Reports of Audi’s low-volume supercar’s future first surfaced in September 2023. 

When the new vehicle arrives, reports suggest that it will be built using Volkswagen Group’s Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) architecture, which combines its Premium Platform Electric modular car platform (PPE) and its mainstream Modular electric drive matrix (MEB) architecture. The new SSP platform is slated to underpin nearly 80% of Volkswagen Group products and accommodate up to 1,700 horsepower.

“We will use systems and modules out of the [SSP] platform, or toolkit, and there is some space to bring cars out of the platform,” technical chief Oliver Hoffman told Autocar magazine last year. “In the next two years, we will bring nearly 20 new products – more than 50% battery-electric. This is our clear focus but, to be honest, we are working on different concepts and projects.”

Porsche will have its own rendition of the SSP platform, dubbed SSP Sport, that will be used for its upcoming luxury SUV that will sit above the Cayenne in the Porsche lineup.

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