Audi R8: no manual and turbo engines

The next-generation Audi R8 supercar, due on sale in 2015, won’t be offered with a manual gearbox, Audi’s development chief has revealed. Speaking with Auto Express at the Geneva show, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg also confirmed it will use a turbocharged engine in some markets that require it, and be longer and wider than its sister car the Lamborghini Huracan.

In place of the current car’s open-gait six-speed manual, the new R8 will feature a seven-speed twin-clutch DSG auto – a recalibrated version of the gearbox used in the new Lamborghini Huracan. The R8 will also share its hybrid chassis with the Huracan – cutting weight and improving stiffness by using a carbon fibre section for the rear bulkhead, sills and central transmission tunnel glued and riveted to an aluminium spaceframe.

Hackenberg confirmed that the new R8 will continue to be offered with both V8 and V10 engines – expected to be cleaner and more powerful developments of the current 4.2-litre V8 and 5.2-litre V10 - while turbocharged engines will be introduced in this lifecycle.

“In the future we will need turbocharged engines for the R8, to meet the needs of certain market around the world,” Hackenberg said. When asked about how many cylinders he hinted “there are some other numbers between four and eight cylinder.” That suggests a V6, possibly the 3.0 twin-turbo V6 already shown in the VW Golf Design Vision GTI concept with 496bhp.