Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav A couple of weeks ago, we learned from Audi CEO Gernot Döllner that the automaker was likely working on a replacement for its R8 supercar. We now know what it will probably look like, as the brand unveiled the Nuvolari concept in the South of France yesterday on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Nuvolari’s styling is a departure from Audi’s current design language, though it remains consistent with the Concept C, a more compact coupe that will use the same underpinnings as Porsche’s electric Boxster. Similarly, the Nuvolari leverages another of Audi’s stablemates within the Volkswagen Group empire: Lamborghini. As with both generations of R8, the Nuvolari uses Lamborghini’s smaller mid-engined platform.
The Nuvolari looks rather clinical in these renderings. Audi Dare I say the carbon bodywork is a bit slab-like? Audi Dare I say the carbon bodywork is a bit slab-like? Audi The Nuvolari’s interior. Audi The Nuvolari’s interior. Audi Dare I say the carbon bodywork is a bit slab-like? Audi The Nuvolari’s interior. Audi In the past, that meant a wonderful-sounding naturally aspirated V10 lived behind the cockpit within the aluminum space frame chassis. But the Huracán is gone now, and with it, that engine. Now it’s time for the Temerario, which amazed our reviewer when we tested one in February due to the accessibility of its performance and the advances it made over its predecessor. The Nuvolari may even eclipse the Lamborghini for performance; with 987 hp (736 kW), it equals the Bugatti Veyron’s output.
So it will be really quite quick. Zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) takes 2.6 seconds. Zero to 125 mph (200 km/h) is just 6.8 seconds. Don’t expect a Veyron-rivaling top speed, but Audi says it will do more than 217 mph (350 km/h, assuming you have somewhere to try those kinds of top speeds.
The powertrain combines three 148 hp (110 kW) axial flux electric motors—two for the front wheels and one for the rear axle—with the 788 hp (588 kW) V8, which still manages to rev to 10,000 rpm despite a pair of turbochargers. The lithium-ion traction battery has a gross capacity of 7.3 kWh, but if it’s provisioned anything like the Temerario, only half of that may be available during driving.
Audi is playing up its new Formula 1 team when describing the Nuvolari. We’re told its F1 drivers “provided targeted feedback” during the car’s aerodynamic development and that it features high- and low-downforce settings for the active rear wing. Audi says the brakes are also F1-derived, though they are still carbon-ceramic disks rather than the carbon-carbon type used by race cars (which would be extremely unsuitable for road use).
Audi has tapped its prewar racing legacy more than once. This is the Rosemeyer concept from 2016. Audi And it’s used the name Nuvolari before, too: This is the Nuvolari concept from 2003. Audi And it’s used the name Nuvolari before, too: This is the Nuvolari concept from 2003. Audi The Avus ring was a prewar circuit formed by two stretches of autobahn linked by hairpins. This is the Audi Avus concept, from 1991. Audi The Avus ring was a prewar circuit formed by two stretches of autobahn linked by hairpins. This is the Audi Avus concept, from 1991. Audi And it’s used the name Nuvolari before, too: This is the Nuvolari concept from 2003. Audi The Avus ring was a prewar circuit formed by two stretches of autobahn linked by hairpins. This is the Audi Avus concept, from 1991. Audi Instead of aluminum, the bodywork is carbon fiber, a first for Audi for a production car. Because this is no mere styling concept, it’s committed to building 499 Nuvolaris, beginning in the first half of next year.
