There is a glimmer of hope that we’ll eventually see a Audi hypercar. According to Automotive News no less than Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann is warm to the idea, explaining that a hypercar is something that the brand not only “deserves,” but just as important is that there’s a “demand outside, and the customers are looking into it.” Winkelman’s claims are backed up by the fact that despite carrying price tags exceeding $1 million, hypercars like the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, and McLaren P1 have all sold out, some even in record time. It’s this kind of demand that has spurred Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG to make their own hypercars, which everyone expects will also sell out at a snap of a finer. The fertility of the hypercar market is something that Audi Sport wants to sow its seeds on, but not at the cost of ignoring its other performance models. That, above all else, is the brand’s priority at this point, starting with filling out its roster of performance crossovers and electric cars. Only after it’s done that will Audi Sport really take the thought of a hypercar seriously. Here’s to hoping that it finishes its "priorities" quickly then, right?

The landscape of the hypercar segment today is as fertile as it’s ever been, and it’s fixing to grow even more now that Audi Sport GmbH has given indication that it might want to join in on the fun at some point in the future. Just don’t expect that “future” to arrive quickly because at this point, the main concern of Audi’s performance division is to roll out new models to fortify its status as a true performance sub-brand.

The timetable for an Audi Sport hypercar is fluid at the moment

Admit it. The thought of an Audi Sport hypercar got you all excited. I’ll be the first one to say that I’m pretty excited about it too, given the circumstances. A hypercar to sit above the R8 is a delicious thought. Even the decision-makers at the brand seem to think so too, but unlike us, they’re the ones who actually have to make these decisions and at least according to the biggest decision-maker of them all, an Audi Sport hypercar isn’t in the company’s imminent plans.

With Audi Sport effectively turning into Audi’s own performance sub-brand there is a responsibility that comes into ensuring that the new sub-brand has the status that can compete with its rivals

Stephan Winkelmann’s position is completely understandable. With Audi Sport effectively turning into Audi’s own performance sub-brand in the vein of what AMG and the M Division are to Mercedes and BMW, respectively, there is a responsibility that comes into ensuring that the new sub-brand has the status that can compete with its rivals. A big part of that is having a lineup of models that it can offer, and in Audi Sports case, these models include the R8, the RS3, the TT RS, and the RS7, to name a few. The company expects to add more though and that’s where Winkelmann’s priority is at the moment. Chief among these models are performance crossovers and electric cars, two segments that have boosted by the importance of their popularity, as is the case with crossovers, or future potential, specifically electric cars.

These are the important segments that Audi Sport needs to fill out before it can proceed with developing its own hypercar. That’s not to say that it hasn’t started thinking about it because Winkelmann himself admitted that he’s “very keen on working on [a hypercar] in the future.”

When that future is going to be is the big question at this point. Like I said, hopefully it arrives sooner than later because even the thought of an Audi hypercar is getting me lightheaded with excitement.

References

Read our full review on the Audi R8.

Read our full review on the Audi R8 Spyder.

Source: Automotive News