Audi Eying RWS Version Of Updated R8 Supercar

Still hoping to get your hands on an Audi R8 RWS? Well, we’re afraid it’s long since sold out. But word has it that the German automaker will make more in the future. You’ll just have to wait a bit.

Audi revealed the R8 RWS at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, ditching the supercar’s usual all-wheel drive system and cutting 110 pounds (50 kg) in the process. Its 5.2-liter V10 engine instead sent its 533 horsepower (397 kW) and 398 lb-ft (540 Nm) of torque to the rear wheels alone, taking a bit longer to reach 62 mph (100 km/h) at 3.7 seconds than the Quattro version’s 3.5, but embracing a lighter, more tail-happy handling setup.

Only 999 examples were made, but according to Autocar, Audi plans on doing it again after the facelifted R8 arrives later this year. The R8 RWS was “a great success,” Audi marketing manager Linda Kurz told Autocar, and it’s “something that we are looking into” producing again.

That’s not quite an outright confirmation, but it bodes well for those who prefer their supercars with a bit more wiggle room on corner exits.

It’s an approach which sister-brand Lamborghini adopted on the Gallardo LP550-2 and Huracan LP580-2, which similarly offered a rear-wheel-drive setup in place of the usual all-wheel drive. Stephan Winkelmann brought it with him from Sant’Agata Bolognese to Neckarsulm during his brief tenure as head of Audi Sport (previously known as Quattro GmbH), before being reposted to his current position as head of Bugatti. But even with more sporting models like the Chiron Sport and Divo, we wouldn’t expect Molsheim to offer a rear-wheel-drive hypercar in the foreseeable future.