You may have heard that back in the early 2010s, Audi had been working on a diesel-powered flagship sports car called the Scorpion. It never made it to the market, but as it now turns out, the company did build a life-size mockup of it. The exclusive images of the mid-engine coupe come from The August Horch Museum in Zwickau, Germany.
According to The Drive, the automaker wanted to take the R18 e-tron, its award-winning Le Mans endurance racer of that time, and make it street-legal. The end result was envisioned as a rival to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR and the Porsche GT1 Strassenversion.
The design and engineering teams had considered various powertrains for this model, including an exotic diesel-electric hybrid setup. The latter would have an internal combustion engine rated between 400 and 500 horsepower (300–375 kW) and an electric motor ramping up the total output to 700 PS (690 hp / 515 kW).
The project envisioned taking the frame and chassis straight from the Le Mans racer with minimal changes. The body kit and panels could be sourced from DTM sports cars. Based on the images revealed now, it was a mid-engine coupe with massive wheel arches, a compact driver’s cab and impressively sized aerodynamic parts including a rear wing.
Insiders claimed 11 years ago that Audi had approved the production of 333 such vehicles. When they would reach the market, they would be positioned above the Audi R8, the company’s flagship at the time. Those reports fell flat when the automaker suddenly shelved the project, never explaining the reasons.