SPY PICS: Next-gen Audi R8

Audi’s next-generation R8 – due in 2015 – has been spied pounding around the Nurburgring in prototype form by the eagle-eyed Automedia lenses.

Although it may not look that different to the existing mid-engined supercar, the next-gen model is a revamped vehicle that borrows the new ‘MSS’ architecture recently debuted by the Lamborghini Gallardo-replacing Huracan.

The new R8’s chassis is still largely made up of aluminium, but the firewall, transmission tunnel, and B-pillars are reportedly fabricated from carbon-fibre.

According to sources, the carbon-fibre elements alone help to pare 24kg from the car’s girth, while boosting torsional rigidity by 13 per cent. The new R8’s overall weight reduction is said be around the 100kg mark, which will obviously reap dividends in all the key metrics.

Apart from the first all-electric R8, propulsion is once again likely to be provided by a naturally aspirated 4.2-litre V8, albeit with power reportedly ramped up from 316kW to 331kW. The range-topping 5.2-litre V10 will also be carried over, although with power upped from 387kW to 405kW.

According to Euro sources, this will be the last hurrah for the atmo V10 as, midway through the new R8’s model cycle, it will make for a new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 motor (thought to be an amped-up version of the unit that powers the RS6, RS7 and Bentley Continental GT).

The twin-turbo V8 will reportedly punch out around 448kW, which would put it more or less on par with the Ferrari 458 Speciale and the Lambo Huracan.

Manual gearbox fans will be disappointed to learn the new R8 will be offered solely with a seven-speed dual-clutch paddleshift, sending drive to all four wheels via Audi’s quattro AWD system.

In case you’re looking at the pics and thinking the vehicle hardly looks ‘all-new’, it’s because Audi is sticking with a visually evolutionary approach, as per the third-gen TT.

The key changes are slimmed-down headlights and taillights, along with cleaner looking flanks. There is also a more prominent rear diffuser, while the round exhausts of the existing model make way for rectangular outlets.

Inside, the biggest step forward comes via an adaptation of the ‘Virtual Cockpit’ concept that debuted in the TT, replacing conventional dials with a multi-configurable virtual display. A head-up display is also expected to be optionally available.

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