MotorAuthority

Audi R8 sold out through 2009

Posted Fri Jul 25 2008 11:19 AM by Nelson Ireson

The Germans in Ingolstadt may be fearing Porsche's imminent takeover, especially as it might affect their 911-fighting R8 sportscar, but if popular demand has any role to play, the car will be safe. Already the entire production allotment of the R8 for 2009 is sold. The wait to buy a new one is now over 18 months.

Sales were unaffected by a $3,500 price rise over the 2008 model to $113,700 for the base model or $122,700 for the Quattro R tronic. The rise only constitutes a change of about 3%, however, so its impact was understandably negligible.

The hand-built R8's production capacity is limited. Just 25 of the cars are built each day, and based on an average working year of 240 days of production, that makes for about 6,000 cars annually, reports Inside Line. Audi of America spokesman Christian Bokich said customers don't care much about details like which model year of car they eventually get, they just want an R8. The new full-LED headlight option might draw some buyers attention, however.

That's an understandable sentiment. The 420hp (313kW) sports car has been widely lauded by the press and at around $115,000, it's a relative bargain, considering the fanstastic looks, superb handling and hand-built German attention to detail. For more on the Audi R8, such as the V12 TDI Concept, check out some of our previous coverage.

story Tags:

• Audi
• Audi R8

Reader Comments

• Fri Jul 25 2008 12:12 PM

  Cirquo says

  Too bad, I'm not one of them.

• Fri Jul 25 2008 1:32 PM

  Roman says

  i stopped by 2 audi dealerships to see this thing and they didnt have any a5's s5's or R8 because they are so popular.

• Fri Jul 25 2008 2:45 PM

  craigs says

  I ordered one....oh wait, that was just a dream!
  
  Beautiful car and its easy to see why they are going like crazy.

• Fri Jul 25 2008 2:55 PM

  Tonto says

  Too bad Audi didn’t just go ahead and make the R8 V12 TDI a reality, now that Porsche’s is going to take over the VW group, it will remain just a one car concept.
  
  What going to happen to the Audi R10’s that have been slapping the butts off those Porsches at Le Mans for the last couple of years?

• Fri Jul 25 2008 9:24 PM

  catchmyshadow says

  The R8 V10 with 525BHP is on the way, the R8 V8 TDI is in the works and there will also be an exclusive limited edition of the R8 V12 TDI.