Low-volume sports cars and supercars are dropping like flies in Australia.
The Audi R8 V10 has disappeared from the Audi Australia website, and dealer stock has dried up.
Although it’s still being sold overseas, the R8 available in Australia features a uniquely-tuned naturally-aspirated V10 engine.
Audi has ended production of our tune at its Hungarian engine plant, and won’t re-homologate the car with a different engine.
“Regarding the Audi R8, the current generation of the Coupe and Spyder are no longer offered in Australia, for local homologation reasons,” an Audi Australia spokesperson said.
“The R8 will continue to be produced for other markets. Audi AG is currently discussing various concepts for a possible R8 successor, but no decision has been made so far.”
Unlike the Alpine A110 and Nissan GT-R, the R8 V10 hasn’t fallen victim to new Australian Design Rules related to side-impact collisions.
The death of the R8 means Audi is without a supercar flagship in Australia for the first time since 2008.
The R8 debuted globally in 2006 with a mid-mounted V8 engine and a six-speed manual transmission, and went head-to-head with the Porsche 911 Carrera 4.
It has since morphed into the dual-clutch only V10 supercar twin to the Lamborghini Huracan we know today.
Although it’s lost the R8, Audi still has a sprawling range of RS cars, and the e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT electric cars coming to act as new-age hero cars.
The e-tron GT has 350kW of power and 630Nm of torque from its dual-motor all-wheel drive system, the RS e-tron GT has 440kW of power and 830Nm of torque.
Both cars have over boost, upping power to 390kW in the GT and 475kW in the RS when launch control is active.
Audi RS e-tron GT
MORE: Everything Audi R8 V10
