2009 Audi R8 ePerformance preview
Audi has just launched a new site with a mysterious series of viral videos and enigmatic aphorisms, which it calls "Electricity Untamed." The site, while unknown in purpose, is counting down the days remaining until the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, intimating that a concept car or other special unveiling is in the works - possibly the rumored all-electric Audi R8 ePerformance.
The site asks: "What happened to electricity? It got dumbed down and domesticated. It's stuck inside toothbrushes and coffee makers." It also states a number of apparently random facts about the energy potential of electricity, focusing on its ability to deliver power and speed, and to behave badly.
That all hints strongly at an electric Audi performance car, and what better platform than the outstanding R8? Though Audi has distanced itself from news of an electric R8-based supercar, previous reports hinted that just such a car was headed to the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, and now this site's appearance seems to lend credence to the rumors.
Along with the random information is a series of what appears to be four viral videos. Depicting an arcing power station, a close lightning strike, a high-powered electric go-kart and a runaway electric lawn mower, the videos all focus on the theme of the raw power and unpredictability of electricity - electricity untamed, as it were. A sampling of the videos is embedded below, and you can visit the site for yourself here.
What, precisely, Audi is hinting at with all of this is still unknown, but it's clear that it's electric, powerful, and coming in twelve days, 15 hours, 11 minutes and 20...no 17...no 14 seconds...
