Next gen Audi R8 with a TDI?

There are tons of rumors floating around about the upcoming second generation of Audi R8 . Everything from 5 cylinder engines to wireless charging capabilities for the R8 e-tron are being talked about for the car’s 2016 entrance into the U.S. market. Well, here’s one more for the rumor mill: a TDI version.

The idea may not be new, but it seems to be gaining some credence for the upcoming model. Volkswagen Group executive Ferdinand Piëch is reportedly itching to have a turbo diesel engine under the R8’s rear glass. While a TDI powered R8 won’t be likely until at least 2017, the possibility is still present.

What’s more, Volkswagen Group has two TDI options to choose from. The first would be to simply use the existing 4.0 L V8 TDI but spiced up with more horsepower and torque. The other option would be to utilize the 5.0 L V10 TDI Audi is currently developing for future Bentley models.

While we’ve got no firm estimates on horsepower and torque outputs for the V10 TDI, we can always guess. Remember the V10 turbo diesel Volkswagen stuffed under the hood of its Touareg SUV in the late 2000s? With twin turbochargers spooling up, it made 310 HP and a stump-pulling 750 NM (553 lb-ft) of torque. Imagine what today’s clean-diesel technology and computer control systems could do for a performance oriented V10 TDI. Perhaps 500 horses and 1084 NM (800 lb-ft) of torque? We can always hope.

While the TDI R8 remains a distant model at this point, we can count on some high performance gasoline engines to power the mid engine supercar . Expect the V8 and gasoline V10 to carry over, along with some nice output updates.