Up until last year, Audi was talking about the market launch of its battery-powered R8 e-tron, and even set a new record for production electric cars at the Nürburgring lapping the winding 13-mile German racetrack in 8 minutes and 9 seconds with a pre-production model (if that makes sense…). Then, all of a sudden, Audi said the launch of the all-electric R8 e-tron has been “delayed indefinitely”.
Just last week, Autonews Europe interviewed Audi CEO Rupert Stadler and asked him about the company’s decision to not build the R8 e-tron, to which he replied, “The R8 E-tron is a very fast car. It’s very emotional and packed with technological highlights, but it is limited in range and actually not the right answer to the demands of Audi customers.”
Now, while Audi will not offer the car to customers, it has already built several examples of the R8 e-tron, one of which will be used by fictional billionaire and genius Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) in the next installment of Iron Man, due to hit theaters on May 3 this year.
And how about the rest of the cars? Well, if these fresh spy shots are anything to go by, Audi’s engineers continue to evaluate and perhaps improve the sports car’s powertrain, which includes two electric motors, one for each axle, producing a combined output of 375-horses (280kW). Even if you won’t be able to buy the R8 e-tron, Audi will use the technology in future models, possibly even in the next generation of the R8.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoopS
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