Audi R8 axed in Australia

The Audi R8 has been discontinued in Australia barely 12 months after the facelifted version reached our shores in mid-2020.

While the German car-maker’s iconic V10-powered performance flagship remains on sale globally, including in other right-hand drive markets like the UK and New Zealand, the Audi R8 sold in Australia has a specific engine tune that is no longer produced by the factory in Europe, where stricter emissions and noise regulations are now in place.

An Audi Australia spokesperson told carsales the factory has decided not to re-homologate or re-engineer the R8 merely to maintain the small sales volumes of the Australian market at this stage of the supercar's life cycle.

Importation of the Audi R8 ended some months ago and just a few remained in dealer stock until recently, but the flagship model has disappeared from Audi Australia’s public website.

However, the four-variant V10 Coupe and Spyder remains on various September price lists with pricing ranging between $294,877 and $416,377, making it Audi’s most expensive model.

Audi has sold 681 examples of the R8 across two generations since 2007 in Australia, including 103 in 2008 – its best sales year – and 29 to August this year.

“The current generation of the Coupe and Spyder are no longer offered in Australia, for local homologation reasons. The R8 will continue to be produced for other markets,” said Audi Australia in a statement.

A successor to the Audi R8 is likely to make it to Australia, but what form that will take and when is not yet known.

“AUDI AG is currently discussing various concepts for a possible R8 successor, but no decision has been made so far,” Audi Australia told carsales.

There have been rumours for some time that Audi will end production of the R8 and replace it in its global line-up with an electric sports car positioned below the e-tron GT.

Audi Australia made it clear the R8 was not axed locally due to the new side-impact crash regulation that applies to all new cars sold from November 1, 2021. Known as Australian Design Rule 85/00, the federal government’s new Pole Side Impact Performance regulation has already sounded the death knell for the Nissan GT-R, Alpine A110, Mitsubishi Mirage and Lexus IS, RC and CT models.

ADR 85 is based on a global design rule that will be implemented first in Australia and won’t come into full force in other markets for another two years.

It was proposed by Australia at the UN World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations in March 2010, registered as legislation in 2015 and will also apply to light commercial vehicles with a GVM of under 3500kg from November 1, 2022.

But the actual requirements of ADR 85, which stems from the international standard United Nations Regulation No 135 that was drawn from United Nations Global Technical Regulation No 14, remain somewhat vague.

“The function of this standard is to reduce the risk of serious and fatal injury of vehicle occupants in side impact crashes," said the Federal Register of Legislation’s explanatory statement when ADR 85 became part of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 in December 2015.

“This is achieved through setting performance limits on various forces, accelerations and deflections measured by an instrumented and human-like (biofidelic) side impact crash test dummy, and by requiring the integrity of the vehicle door and fuel systems to be maintained, in an oblique vehicle-to-pole side impact crash test.

“Overall, this new standard is expected to reduce the cost of road trauma, particularly in relation to traumatic brain injuries, from a range of side impact crashes involving light passenger and light commercial vehicles, including side impacts with poles/trees and between vehicles.”

According to the government’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), the costs associated with mandating the ADR are significantly outweighed by benefits, which include “a reduction in road trauma estimated at a total of 128 lives saved and 195 severe or moderate traumatic brain injuries avoided from a 15 year period of regulation. Net benefits will be $417 million.”