I personaly don't think the reason is technical. The revised R8 does not introduce 'new' motors or chassis components that needs new testing by the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)! The 'revised' US R8 rear lights might not be able to work exactly like those in ROW, but that is not a reason for a delay. The US MY2014 will not offer the 'wave action' rear LED turn signal circuitry either! Same holds true for the new design 'wave' brake rotors too, whether they show up on our US R8's or not.

I think the reason for the delay is obvious - the rather alarming number of unsold inventory of brand new & very expensive MY2012 R8's sitting at US dealers! Cars.com currently lists around 190! Since there is no MY2013 US R8, these cars might NOT be technically considered 'left-over' models by lending institutions & leasing companies (including Audi's own). Thus still qualify 'low' top tier leasing rates & financing! Without the latter, Audi's ability to sell these vehicles might be seriously impaired!

Right now, I think the biggest headache at Audi is deciding how to move these cars out of dealer inventory stock and prevent their dealer network from realizing massive losses in the value on these unsold MY2012 R8's! That is why the introduction of the 'revised' US R8 model is a moving target! The longer the 'revised' R8 (to be introduced here as a MY2014!) takes to arrive in this market, the more time Audi has to come up with a plan to 'move' these unsold MY2012 R8's! Audi will have to use generous 'trunk money' allowances for cash buyers and/or greatly subsidized leases for lessees as monetary incentives to accomplish their goal of getting these '12's out of dealer stock!

The tricky part of this for Audi is not to damage 'too much' the residual value of the R8's already owned by Audi's North American customers! But massive discounting of unsold MY2012 R8's will have negative trickled down effects on the 'value' of all previously sold R8's in the US! So this exercise is fraught with dangers of all sorts for Audi, their dealers and....the current R8 owners in this market!

What do others think?

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

 

Great write up, I was actually going to get an R8 but the new 991 is so much car and best of all its an excellent DD. The Audi dealers in Canada don't seem to be in an ultra hurry to sell the 2012 inventory cars.

 

Interesting thoughts, seems very plausible. I'm ok with r8 values dropping. Only because a 40-50k v8 r8 in the future would be awesome!

 

It will happen in a few years. Autotrader lists 351 R8's new & used for sale currently in the US. Just a few MY2008 coupes with around 30K miles are going for the high $80's. So a $40K/$50K v8 R8 will be seen someday...but not anytime soon!

Saludos,
Eduardo

 

Interesting points

 

I can tell you that I was offered a good bit of trunk money on a '12 V10 car.

 

The deals on left-over, new, MY2012 R8's are a documented fact! On the R8Talk forum, Audi Atlanta (a forum sponsor) has openly advertised $20K off MSRP on their last two remaining '12 R8's! A fellow from Maryland that was looking at the used '11 R8 Spyder in MB of Annapolis that I eventually purchased told me that he just bought a new (left-over) '12 R8 v8 Spyder for $126K. The MSRP was $149,175. It was Suzuka with Nav, Convenience Pkg, Leather Pkg, LED headlights, CF interior inlays, CF mirrors, B&O, Leather Perforated sterring wheel, illuminated door sills and the all weather mats. That is a $23K savings from list! He negotiated this deal in mid-January of 2013. In R8Talk, people have claimed that the going reduction in price from MSRP on the expensive gt models is closer to $35K! To make these actual sales numbers make any sense, you must assume that Audi is indeed giving the dealers an incentive (e.g. trunk money) to move these R8's without a major financial loss to the dealerships!

It will be interesting to see what happens re: pricing as we get closer to the MY2014 R8 models actually arriving at the US dealerships this summer! For savvy buyers looking to get the best deals on '12 R8's, the issue is that with these kind of incentives the nicest color combos and better specs will be the first ones sold! By the time you perhaps get an extra $ savings later on, the pickings in inventory stock will be very slim. My suggestion, if any of you are thinking of buying a '12 R8 at these low prices, is to negotiate you best deal NOW!

Saludos,
Eduardo

 

@ uhn2000 - Well Canada is most of the time always behind in a lot of things. So no surprise there.