Audi R8 Diesel Hybrid Faster Than McLaren P1: Brand Boss Says

Audi Quattro boss Franciscus Van Meel just did the unthinkable. He managed to imagine a car that will be faster than one of the world’s fastest cars that doesn’t exist yet.

“If we make this car it will be the absolute best supercar, and completely different in concept to the R8,” Van Meel said to AutoExpress. “It will be very Vorsprung Durch Technik, very innovative.” The rag then went on to ask if it will be faster than a McLaren P1, to which he said “yes.”

Keep in mind that specifications for the McLaren P1 won’t be available until March when the brand is scheduled to unveil the second chapter in its halo car story during the Geneva Motor Show.

Still, it is possible for Van Meel to make that claim. It would, of course, require Audi to wait until the P1 is available. At the moment, the P1 is thought to harbor something around 720 hp based on the brand’s stated power-to-weight ratio. Official figures, however, are undisclosed.

P1 aside, a diesel hybrid R8 would make sense, especially given the success Audi enjoyed with its diesel hybrid Le Mans car this year. Bringing that technology to consumers, then, would only make sense.

Diesel hybrids are already reaching the market, albeit in different form. Jaguar Land Rover will offer such a powertrain in its new Range Rover for the European market. It will be built to Euro 5 standards, though, meaning no carryover to the U.S.

While it wouldn’t be shocking to see Audi build an R8 like that, it would be even less of a surprise for the project to be killed before production given its track record with the R8 e-Tron (pictured above).

SEE ALSO: Audi R8 e-Tron Project Halted, Maybe Axed Completely

[Source: AutoExpress]