After years of speculation, Audi has now confirmed the Audi R8 is at its end. The exotic sports car is going away after the 2023 model-year. Audi confirmed its decision to Car and Driver magazine during a test drive of the model’s new GT version. That GT will mark the last year on the market for a car that caused quite a sensation when it launched in 2007.
For its final run, the R8 will be offered in a 562-hp rear-wheel drive configuration, a 602-hp quattro version, and a GT configuration that is essentially a 602-hp rear-wheel drive variant.
At first, the R8 was offered with two engines, a 4.2L V8 and a 5.2L V10. For the past few years, only the latter has been available.
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The company only sells a handful of R8s each year, so despite being sold for 15 years, the vehicle remains a rare sight. The R8 also served as a test bed for the development of all the RS models Audi has in its lineup today.
As for what's next, again, there’s been much speculation over the years. The most recent suggests that an all-electric variant called RNext is in the works, but an Audi spokesperson denied this to Car and Driver magazine.
We'll have to see, but it's hard to imagine that Audi won't offer a replacement for the R8. We'll have to be patient, though, because it won’t be until the second half of this decade before anything new comes to fruition.