This gorgeous specimen is about to take on the Porsche 911 in the rarified air of the sports car elite. The Audi R8 debuted at a party this evening in Paris, and it’s the company’s attempt at a high-performance sports car. From what we see here and in the images below, Audi has done its job.
The R8 features a 420-hp engine borrowed from the new RS4 sedan, and it should be good for a zero to 60 mph time in the mid-4-second region. It will feature Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system and either a six-speed manual or a new sequential six-speed automatic transmission. The price will be around $100,000, and if you think that’s too much, don’t bother rushing out to put an order on one of the 3,500 units Audi will produce per year. We’re guessing the waiting list will be long when it arrives in the U.S. in mid-2007.