The Vorsprung durch Technik from Germany is considering a new flagship supercar on top of the Audi R8. The new flagship will be a diesel hybrid and incorporates technology from the 2012  Le Mans winning Audi R18 e-tron race car, and will compete with the Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1 and Ferrari Enzo 2.0.

"There is definitely room for a super sports car above the R8", cited Audi's new boss of technical development, Wolfgang Durheimer. On top of Audi, Durheimer oversees strategic motorsport plans for the entire VW Group. Durheimer further added, "This year I watched Audi win Le Mans for the 11th time, and asked myself how do we leverage this diesel hybrid technology to the road. This would deliver that transfer from track to road that I'm always looking for."

Powertrain details are not confirmed, but output is expected to be around 700bhp with at least 1,000Nm of torque. The power is good for a century sprint of 3.0 seconds with top speed in excess of 321km/h.

The chassis could be based on a new MSB platform that will underpin all mid and rear-engined models in the VW Group - including the next generation R8, Lamborghini Gallardo and Porsche 911. Similar in concept to the smaller MQB platform, the MSB is highly flexible in terms of chassis size and materials.

The R8 replacement will not arrive until 2015, thus expect the range topping diesel hybrid to hit no earlier than 2017.