Audi wants a hypercar, but RS crossovers and EVs are job one

Every so often, an automaker decides to throw everything it has in terms of cash and engineering prowess at a project. This has spawned cars like the Porsche 918 Spyder or the upcoming Mercedes-AMG hypercar. As fantastic as some of these machines may be, the final product often does more for an automaker’s image than it does for its bottom line. Automotive News reports that Audi, long rumored to be working on a car to slot above the R8, is in no hurry to build a so-called hypercar.

Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann isn’t ruling out the idea, but he says right now the brand needs to focus on crossovers and electrification, with some sort of supercar coming down the road. Winkelmann formerly ran Lamborghini before moving over to Audi Quattro GmbH. The latter recently rebranded itself as Audi Sport and aims to compete straight on with Mercedes-AMG and BMW M. The R8 and all the RS variants fall under the Audi Sport banner.

Winkelmann told Automotive News that he believes Audi deserves to build a halo car. The past decade or so has been great for the brand. While Audi used to play second fiddle to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer. Winkelmann said customers have been asking for a project. Give the people what they want.

In the immediate future, Audi plans to grace more crossovers with the RS nameplate. Crossovers are hot, and Audi has nothing to compete with all of the Mercedes-AMG models. This means performance variance beyond the current SQ5 and SQ7. Beyond that, Audi Sport plans to focus on its on E-Tron electric car project.

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