Audi stops R8 production

Audi has pulled the plug on the Audi R8 e-tron, and is in the process of delivering the last units before production stops, according to Car and Driver. The all-electric model was launched at the Geneva auto show last year, before serving as a showcase for autonomous driving at the CES Asia technology show in Shanghai two months later. However, the car, which retailed for NZ$1.56 million, never appeared in Audi’s online configurator. Customers of the Europe-only car were referred by dealers to Audi’s headquarters. With less than 100 models thought to be built, an Audi representative says: “We could’ve built more than we did.” The R8 e-tron was originally launched as a concept car at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show. A year later, then-R&D chief Michael Dick drove a few laps in it on the 24 Hours of Le Mans course. The project was stopped two years later by his successor, Wolfgang Durheimer, before being resurrected by Durheimer’s successor, Ulrich Hackenburg. Audi decided to turn it into a variant of the second-generation R8, and it made its debut at the 2015 Geneva auto show. During development, Audi abandoned the original four-motor layout, with the production car instead featuring two motors on the rear axle - making it the only roadgoing R8 with rear-wheel drive instead of Quattro all-wheel drive.