The Audi R8 is the successor to the electric car.

Last year we heard that the future of the Audi R8 was very uncertain. If new comments from Audi executives are any indication, it appears that the V-10-powered R8 is, in fact, dying out in favor of its electric successor.

In an interview with Roadshow published Wednesday, Linda Kurz, head of product marketing for Audi Sport, said future R-badged cars will be electric.

This news is not that surprising. Audi has pledged to launch only electric cars starting in 2026, and that commitment extends to the Audi Sport division, which is responsible for the R8 and all RS-badged models.

Audi has also strongly hinted several times that the R8, or a future halo product like the R8, will be electric. Audi first hinted at an electric R8 in 2009, when it unveiled the R8 E-Tron concept car based on the original R8 platform.

Since then, there have been only a few R8 E-Tron concept cars, and Audi even claims to have sold a few R8 E-Trons based on the current generation R8 platform. This car was offered briefly in 2015, but its price was in the seven figures and its performance was outclassed by Tesla. Unsurprisingly, it was soon withdrawn from the market.

Perhaps the best example of what the successor to the electric R8 could look like is Audi's PB18 E-Tron concept from 2018. This concept featured a solid-state battery that was lighter and charged faster than current liquid-type batteries. Audi's parent company, Volkswagen Group, has hinted that the solid-state battery will be ready in the second half of the decade, so perhaps this is when the R8 successor will arrive. Stay tuned.