Audi reveals 'new' hypercar

Never-made 2013 flagship unveiled as clues emerge about F1-era sports cars

- FELIX PAGE

Audi is shaping the electrified future of its top-drawer RS performance models and could deploy learnings from its nascent Formula 1 programme in a rangetopping, road-going supercar.

The firm has just quietly revealed a never-made hypercar concept from 2013, which is no longer a live project but gives a strong indication of how the brand's motorsport efforts could influence future sports cars.

Making its belated debut in a new aerodynamics exhibition at Audi's museum in Ingolstadt, Germany, the Scorpion was conceived as a flagship supercar to sit above the R8, with heavy design and technical influence from the company's successful endurance sports car racers.

Obvious cues - most notably from the R18 E-tron Le Mans racer include the large stabilising fin along the rear deck, gaping aero tunnels and downforce-optimising carbon bodykit. Audi also cites the aero influence of its DTM touring cars.

While no technical details of the Scorpion show car have been given, Autocar reported in 2013 that Audi was working on a hypercar with a 600bhp diesel-electric powertrain in place of the pure-electric R8 E-tron it had decided to shelve.