By Andrew Ganz
Thursday, May 7th, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
 
The Audi R8 TDI concept car that bowed last year in Detroit and then later, slightly revised, in Geneva, had been given the green light for production, but according to Audi insiders, the German automaker has decided to halt the project. Citing soft global demand for high-end cars, as well as weak response to diesels in the United States, a source familiar with the project says Audi wouldn't be able to recoup its initial investment.

The concept car, which was powered by a 5.5-liter, 500-horsepower engine based on the automaker's R10 Le Mans race car engine, was said to be the precursor of a production model. According to Auto Express, however, the cost of re-engineering the car to accommodate the diesel powertrain would kill off any chance of making a profit.

Audi's engineers were apparently having a difficult time fitting the 12-cylinder production-ready diesel engine in the R8's engine bay. The massive twin turbochargers were particularly difficult to fit, an inside source told the publication.

An open-top version of the R8 is still on its way, however, as we reported earlier.
  

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