• The Nuvolari is Audi’s most powerful car ever.
• With a whopping 987 horsepower on tap, the limited-run supercar ties the original Bugatti Veyron.
• But while the Veyron had a huge, W16 engine doing the heavy lifting, the spaceship-like Nuvolari has electric power on its side.

This is the Audi Nuvolari, the German automaker’s most powerful production car ever. With up to 987 horsepower on tap, the angular Nuvolari is as powerful as the original Bugatti Veyron.

Unlike the legendary Veyron, however, the Nuvolari has a much smaller gas engine. So, how did Audi stuff this much power into a car that has half the displacement and half the cylinders of the Veyron? Simple: electric motors and batteries.

Photo by: Audi

While the 2005 Bugatti Veyron is powered by a marvelous 8-liter, W16 lump, the new Audi Nuvolari has a 4-liter V-8 engine sitting behind the driver and passenger. It also has not one, not two, but three oil-cooled axial flux electric motors that chime in when necessary, providing extra oomph, as well as enabling a modern iteration of Audi’s legendary Quattro all-wheel drive system.

Two electric motors power the front wheels, providing up to 1,585 pound-feet (2,150 Newton-meters) of torque and supporting variable torque distribution. A third axial flux motor is sandwiched between the mid-mounted V-8 engine and the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Each of the three electric motors makes up to 147 hp (110 kW). Meanwhile, the gas engine can rev up to 10,000 rpm and delivers a maximum of 788 hp and 538.4 lb-ft (730 Nm) of torque.

A 7.3-kilowatt-hour (gross) lithium-ion battery that can be topped up from a Level 2 charger or through the car’s regenerative braking ties everything together. In other words, Audi’s most powerful and fastest road car, with a top speed of 217 miles per hour, is a plug-in hybrid. So much for the argument that hybrids and plug-in hybrids are useless, then.

The German automaker didn’t say how many miles the Nuvolari can drive on electricity with a full battery, but it should be more than the roughly 5-10 miles that the Lamborghini Temerario, which has a similar powertrain but a smaller battery, can do.

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Source: Audi

Compared to conventional electric motors, axial flux motors are considerably smaller and lighter, enabling automakers to integrate them in smaller packages without compromising performance.

The Audi Nuvolari pays tribute to Tazio Nuvolari, a legendary Italian race driver who won races in the late 1930s behind the wheel of Auto Union-badged cars—the precursors to the Audi we know today. While similar in shape to the discontinued R8, the new Nuvolari supercar is not its successor. Instead, Audi wants to make a statement, building just 499 units of its new flagship, each with an eye-watering starting price of roughly $700,000 (€600,000).

This isn’t the Audi R8 comeback that pops up online as a rumor every six weeks. No, this is real. Say hello to the Audi Nuvolari, a titanium-colored stunner that puts Audi solidly back on the supercar map—and then some. In fact, it’s the most powerful production model in Audi’s history.

Revealed Thursday evening during the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix festivities, Ingolstadt’s newest creation is powered by a hybrid, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 that will produce around 1,000 horsepower and rev to 10,000 RPM. The motor itself is borrowed from its corporate sibling, the Lamborghini Temerario, but will pack a bit more power. However, it will retain the same electric motor configuration: two axial-flux motors on the front axle and one on the rear axle. This package will reportedly be good enough for 0-60 mph in just 2.6 seconds, a ridiculous top speed of 217 mph, and an undisclosed electric-only driving range thanks to its 7.3-kWh battery.

Chief Technology Officer Rouven Mohr points at the automaker’s involvement in F1 with expediting various technologies and concepts from the track to the road—but as far as I see it, the biggest and best transfer between the two is the look of the thing. The titanium hue is lifted directly from Audi’s F1 car, and that’s just straight-up sick. Sure, there are other engineering elements, but that’s one that everyone can see and appreciate.

Named after the famous Italian racing driver Tazio Nuvolari—and following up on the sleek concept from the early 2000s—the new supercar will feature “quattro predictive ride,” the latest version of the famous all-wheel-drive system that will utilize torque vectoring during acceleration, cornering, deceleration, and braking, regenerative or otherwise. It also boasts active aerodynamics that can generate up to 882 pounds of pressure, thanks to a deployable rear wing with three settings: Closed, Low Downforce, and High Downforce. If you’re wondering how the driver will operate the wing, just look at the big button on the steering wheel.

Speaking of the interior, massive kudos to Audi for not slapping a bunch of screens on the dash of this beauty. Sure, it still has a central touchscreen to operate the car’s basic functions, as well as a digital gauge cluster for the driver, but that’s it. No passenger display, no other nonsense. It looks minimalist and borderline cold, but I have a feeling it’ll be more pleasing to the eye in person.

The new Audi Space Frame with a carbon exterior, according to Audi, uses the same manufacturing methods as those used in F1 cars. Autoclave technology takes pre-impregnated carbon-fiber shapes and then cures them under high pressure and temperature to deliver maximum structural rigidity and weight savings. This process requires extensive hand labor and expertise, as the end result will be visible in the car’s appearance. No just phoning it in.

The Nuvolari is essentially an evolution of the Concept C (which was previously touted as purely electric) that wowed last year, down to the color. It comes at the right time for the brand, as it seeks to reestablish itself with enthusiasts via its F1 efforts and now this supercar. Surely I’m not the only one who anxiously read the announcement, fearing an all-electric powertrain, then was overwhelmingly happy to see “V8.” It’s exactly what Audi’s lineup needed, though sadly, it won’t make it to many people’s homes.

Pricing was not divulged, but only 499 units will be produced. Chances are, most of them are already sold. Deliveries are set to begin in the first half of 2027, according to Audi.

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