"The Audi guys have been trying to build a sports car for 25 years - this has been a long wait," Winterkorn told me as he flogged the R8 around the track. I asked him, yelling to be heard over the engine's snarl, what impressed him most about the car. "That anyone can drive it" - he glanced at me - "even a woman." If Audi wants to conquer America, it had better get a mindset adjustment: Next time, Herr Doktor, I'll drive.
Winterkorn and Rupert Stadler, Audi's new boss, confirmed that the next step for the R8 is to get a bigger engine. Eventually, says Winterkorn, it will share a new platform with Lamborghini, Bentley and (hooray!) Bugatti. But for now, Audi can rest easy in the knowledge that it has created a classic.
 With Quincy Jones riding shotgun, Fortune's Sue Callaway straps in - and takes the sinister, sexy, $8 million Maybach Exelero for a spin. (more) |
