No V8 in 2011?

[shawnek]

While working with my dealer on a 2010, I mentioned that if I couldn't get the price I could hold out until 2011. The Audi rep was in the dealership and mentioned off the cuff that there are no plans for v8 in 2011. Anyone else hear this?

[TonnyG]

my dealer told me the same a month ago, My dealers says they are waiting for so many V10 cars that are presold that have not been delivered yet so Audi NA
have requested to AUDI to get V10 allocations in much higher numbers then for 2010 so basically no space or allocations to bring in V8. And of course as the cars are more money I think Audi has no problem with that.

Tonny

[willyjp]

While working with my dealer on a 2010, I mentioned that if I couldn't get the price I could hold out until 2011. The Audi rep was in the dealership and mentioned off the cuff that there are no plans for v8 in 2011. Anyone else hear this?

any R8 ordered now, or since about mid-May if last year is a guide, will be a "2011" as far as the official model year on the VIN; that's because the model year change over occurs in the first couple of weeks of June;

any R8 built after May 31 is going to be a 2011; so if a dealer tells you he can get you an R8 to your ordered spec, either it's gonna' be a 2011, or he's going to get as close as he can from already built 2010's and tell you he "ordered" it;

in other words, they aren't building any more 2010s and haven't been for almost 2 weeks; and keep in mind that from the order process to build start takes at least a couple of weeks, at least from the US (I think the Brits have a much shorter line to the factory!)

so don't let a dealer tell you that you can order a 2010 at this point because he's got a 2010 "allocation;" those are all gone! If you really are ordering a v8, it's gonna' be a 2011; but keep in mind they'd much rather sell you a v10!

[Herbert]

While working with my dealer on a 2010, I mentioned that if I couldn't get the price I could hold out until 2011. The Audi rep was in the dealership and mentioned off the cuff that there are no plans for v8 in 2011. Anyone else hear this?

I believe that is incorrect. My source is in agreement with the information in this post:

Discounts on R8

Production of the 2011 4.2 is expected to commence in September 2010.

[R84ME]

Initially, Audi announced they were releasing a V8 spyder after the V10 so I'm pretty sure the V8 is still alive for 2011.

There is some basic structure to the allocations. For example, 4.2L MT6 or 5.2L R-tronic. Beyond that, everything is configurable, prior to the order commit date.

[z356]

Just two weeks ago I was informed by the Area General Manager of Audi for Northern California that all remaining MY2010 R8 production will be strictly v10 models. Whether the MY'10 ends in May 31st or weeks later I really don't know. This confirms what TonnyG is saying from Scottsdale. When I then inquired about when v8 R8 production was going to be resumed, I was led to believe that it would start in the fall as a MY2011 model. That was then. Just yesterday that same Area General Manager for Audi sent me the MY2011 Order Guides via email. Interestingly, it only included ordering information on the v10 coupe and spyder. If the R8 v8 order guides are already available he failed to include them in the attachment, which is odd. Or it could be that Audi has not yet decided when to re-start v8 production, or with what final specification if/when it goes back into production. Thus, no MY2011 order guides are ready as of this date for the v8 R8. The v10 order guides I was sent yesterday are dated March 12, 2010 and some pages were revised as of May 14, 2010. Thus they are probably the most current.

So to Willyjp point, I don't think the 'confusion' (re: OP's 'No v8 in 2011?') is really the typical dealer misinformation so that you buy his MY2010 R8 on the lot. I really believe that Audi might NOT yet know (or at least not ready to announce to the public) what they are going to do with the v8 R8 going forward. It leaves open the door for a MY2011 revision in the v8 engine to the RS5 specifications. Or they are just trying to carefully analyse, and/or gauge, future v8 R8 demand in the US market before they commit to actual production. Personally, I think Audi is correct in reflecting on what they should do with the R8 v8. As it stands right now, a normally optioned 2010 v8 was within $15K or so of a base 2010 v10, which already comes with most of those same options as standard. So given Audi's US pricing peculiarities, most customers going forward are apparently choosing to order the v10 instead of a v8 R8. Do you blame them? But Audi could do several things different with the MY2011 v8 R8. It could upgrade the power to the newer 5RS engine. Or if it leaves the engine intact due to technical issues or EPA approval process, it could include many of the costly v8 options (e.g. Bang & Olufsen, Navigation, Convenience Pkg, perhaps even the newer LED front lights) as standard no-cost in base R8 and give a 'value' reason for their customers going with the MY2011 v8 R8. As it stands right now, some customers would not mind having the greater 'balance' that the v8 R8 supposedly gives over the more aggressive & 'rowdier' v10. Many might not really want, or need, the extra torque. Or the greater fuel consumption in these increasingly greener times. But they are not choosing the v8 right now because Audi is giving them NO real monetary 'common sense' reason to chose the base model over the v10. If Audi makes the actual price difference between a v8 and a v10 a true $25K or $30K (apples to apples), they might have customers for BOTH models. Given the market competition & bad economy, they can't increase right now the price of their new v10. So the alternative is to 'lower' the price of the existing v8 via higher content as standard equipment. We will shortly see which way they have decided to go. Just my dos centavos worth of analysis. z356 (Carmel, CA & Vail Valley, Colorado)

[Monkey boy UK]

Initially, Audi announced they were releasing a V8 spyder after the V10 so I'm pretty sure the V8 is still alive for 2011.

There is some basic structure to the allocations. For example, 4.2L MT6 or 5.2L R-tronic. Beyond that, everything is configurable, prior to the order commit date.

Really, have Audi confirmed there will be a V8 Spyder, i thought it was just speculation, ?

[ldye]

I think I saw on another message board that 2011 pricing was released for Canada and it included the 4.2 model. I would think if they will build 4.2 for one market, Audi would offer it for US.

[willyjp]

the point I was really trying to make was that, any R8 builtafter June 1, 2010 will be a "2011" because that is when ALL of Audi does their model year "changeover"; I don't think there's anything mandatory about it, but it's is interesting that Volvo (about the production of which I know a bit) also observes the same date for model year changeover

in the case of Volvo, they spend some time reconfiguring and adjusting the "just in time" parts supplies to reflect the needs of the changes and then start building the next model year

comments heard on this forum about when various members cars were built confirms that Audi has a cycle pretty close to the same...perhaps they're changing over things a little before the end of May?

but as far as a pause in actually turning out a particular configuration, I don't doubt a bit that such a thing occurs all the time to adjust production to demand; SBFV10 and I live near one another and compared notes about our pending 2010s last year at about this time;

Steve's v10 had a VIN only slightly ahead of mine (fewer than 10 numbers if I recall correctly) after ordering about 10 days before I did, but his v10 hit all the announced progress points ahead of the announced dates whereas mine hit some up to almost a month later than what was on the printed "schedule" from Audi.

You'd think that close in number, they'd have come on the same ship, but mine came on a later ship and arrived at the dealer almost a month later than his. In that case, my suspicion is that they had pushed v10s to the front of the line to get the new model out to the dealers, even though the vin#s had been assigned in sequence as the orders came in

my big question: does anyone have a 2011 vin# yet? do they conform to the 2010 coding (except for the model year letter of course)? the 2010 coding reflected several changes from the 2008-9 vin codes.

[R84ME]

A couple more thoughts on the V10.

I think this one got away from Audi (putting the 5.2L in the R8). Audi has been removing displacement and cylinders from their entire production line in response to increased demand for better fuel consumption and being "Green." It is inconsistent with their corporate philosophy.

If Audi were to offer the RS5 4.2L (supercharged?) in the R8, it would effectively replace the V10. Think about it. Probably about the same performance, better fuel economy and less weight. Long term, I think the V10 will give way to a more efficient V8. I think we're in that akward, inbetween stage at the moment.