2014 Audi ’R8 NF’ teased years ahead of its debut

Audi’s resident supercar, the R8, has spawned a lot of different variants from its home base in Ingolstadt, and according to a new report from Automobile Magazine, the German automaker is looking into building the lightest version of the R8 yet – and that includes the already svelte-looking R8 GT.

For now, this new model is being designated as the ‘R8 NF’ where it was presented by the brand through a number of teaser photos during a recent presentation held at its lightweight research and production plant in Neckersulm, Germany.

The images, which included a computer-generated rendering of the R8 NF’s passenger cell, features the abundant use of carbon fiber on the rear bulkhead between the seat backs and the engine compartment and B-pillars, as well as other lightweight materials on the future Audi supercar. Audi also showed a visual timeline of the company’s roll-out plan on the use of carbon fiber on some of its models with the R8 NF scheduled to hit somewhere around 2014.

At the same event, an R8 5.2 V10 prototype was pictured having a number of its body panels decked with carbon fiber, including both bumpers, the decklid, the roof, and the floor pans. While Audi kept mum on the car, it does look like this prototype could be related to the future ’R8 NF’.

While it seems a little early to be talking about a car that’s going to be launched in three years, Audi must think highly enough of the ‘R8 NF’ to bring it up this early in its design stage.