Audi caps its New York Auto Show appearance with a prestigious award bestowed upon its halo model – the new R8. It drives off with the most important award in the eyes of ZTR.
With a total of four awards, the Audi R8 is the most successful model in the history of the World Car Awards. The previous generation had already taken home two World Performance Car awards in its life cycle and a World Car Design of the Year gong as well. Now, the second generation of this high-performance sports car from Audi has won over the global jury of 73 automotive journalists.
Dietmar Voggenreiter, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG explained how its recipe of distinct design, superior driving dynamics and its closeness to racing has made the R8 one of the strongest nameplates in the four rings harem.
“The first generation of the R8 paved our way toward becoming a premium brand and raised the aura of Audi to a new level. The new R8 will continue this success story and further accelerate the growth strategy of Audi Sport.” She explained.
The V10 mid-engine R8 with its newly developed quattro drive is said to offer extraordinarily better driving performance than ever. In top of the range it wields 449 kW, sprints from standstill to 100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds and doesn’t run out of steam until 330 km/h. Consistent lightweight construction a suspension tuned for even better dynamism, with the maximser of thrust deployment such as quattro drive along with full variable torque vectoring make the R8 Coupé a truly astonishing car.
With the genetics and know-how acquired from numerous wins and experiences by the brand in motor racing: the sport prototypes that have won the 24 hours of Le Mans 13 times since 2000, and the R8 LMS contributed seven more overall victories in 24-hour races since 2009, the new R8 is a car breathed upon by the newest tricks in the game.
The all-new Audi R8 Coupé will be launched in South Africa in July this year.
Below is Audi’s history with the prestigious competition:
2005 Audi A6 World Car of the Year
2007 Audi RS 4 World Performance Car
Audi TT World Car Design of the Year
2008 Audi R8 World Performance Car
Audi R8 World Car Design of the Year
2010 Audi R8 V10 World Performance Car
2014 Audi A3 World Car of the Year
2016 Audi R8 World Performance Car