Audi R8 Endures Delayed Demise to Satisfy Demand

While Audi had previously confirmed 2023 as the last year of the R8, production of the model has continued into 2024. The automaker will reportedly be keeping the mid-engine coupe around through March to satisfy demand.

«It is true, the last Audi R8 will leave the production line at the end of the first quarter of 2024,» Audi spokesperson Liza Kellner informed Motor1. «This marks the end of the production of an iconic sports car at the Audi Böllinger Höfe site in Neckarsulm. The all-electric Audi e-tron GT will continue to be built at the Böllinger Höfe.»

Audi has opted to transition its entire fleet to all-electric vehicles and is leading with models like the e-tron GT to supplant the R8. As with the R8, the e-tron is based on another model from a fancier nameplate.

Whereas the Audi R8 served as a more-mature and less expensive alternative to the Lamborghini Gallardo and later Huracán, the e-tron GT actually stickers for higher than the Porsche Taycan. This may feel like a counterintuitive play for Volkswagen Group to have made and Porsche’s superior sales numbers may justify that assumption. 

However, Audi is indeed making decent headway with battery driven vehicles. When so many other brands were seeing EV sales plateau through the second half of 2023, the German company enjoyed a 26 percent increase in the third quarter (year-over-year) on our market and noted that electric vehicles now make up roughly 13 percent of its total volume. Considering the field, that’s not bad. 

Most automakers have vowed to go entirely electric within the next decade. However, these promises had been made before with many brands repeatedly readjusting their electrification goals to avoid embarrassment. It’s likewise skeptical that Audi is on pace to reach its stated targets. But it also probably has a better chance than most, based upon how things have been progressing. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have anything that serves as a true replacement for the R8 and would like to milk everything it can from the model before production formally concludes. Audi is basically doing what Dodge did with the Challenger/Charger. It made sure everyone knew that it would never ever build another