Audi confirms 987-hp Nuvolari for the US at $700,000, with 182 of 499 cars allocated

Audi will sell the Nuvolari in the United States, priced from $700,000, with first deliveries scheduled for the second half of 2028. The confirmation comes about five months after the car premiered in Europe.

Global production is capped at 499 units, and 182 of them are earmarked for the US market. Audi has not yet said how those 182 cars will be allocated among buyers, so the selection process for American customers has not been announced.

The Nuvolari is the hybridised successor to the R8, and its price puts it well above the cars it will be compared with. At $700,000 it is roughly $100,000 more than a Lamborghini Revuelto and almost $150,000 beyond a Ferrari 849 Testarossa. It is almost double the base price of a Lamborghini Temerario. For reference, the limited-run Audi R8 V10 GT, the swan song for the old car's naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10, was priced at $253,290 in 2022.

That gap matters because the Nuvolari shares its engine with the Temerario, so American buyers are being asked to pay a substantial premium over the Lamborghini for the same basic powertrain architecture.

Powertrain and performance claims

The supercar uses the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 as the Temerario, paired with three axial flux electric motors for a combined 987 horsepower, which is 80 hp more than the Lamborghini. It also carries a larger 7.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack than the Temerario's 3.8-kWh unit.

Audi says the car reaches 60 mph (96 kph) in 2.5 seconds and can exceed 217 mph (350 kph). Those acceleration and top-speed figures are manufacturer claims rather than independently measured results.

Chassis, aero and standard equipment

Underneath, the Nuvolari is built on Audi's new Space Frame architecture with lightweight carbon fibre body panels. It has a three-stage adjustable rear wing, a DRS system and produces more than 880 lbs (400 kg) of downforce.

The all-wheel-drive system analyses acceleration, steering inputs and grip levels to adjust aerodynamic balance and torque distribution automatically. The car also has four-way adjustable suspension with adaptive compression and rebound, and carbon-ceramic brakes are fitted as standard.

Given the price and the 499-car build, many owners are unlikely to take the car to a circuit, so the aero package may matter more as a statement of intent than as a weekend track tool.

Options and customisation

The $700,000 figure is a starting point, and the total will rise once buyers add options. Standard paint choices include more than 50 gloss finishes and 10 matte finishes, and Audi Exclusive offers custom colours, including exposed carbon fibre. Inside, there are 33 leather colours and three Dinamica fabric finishes, with bespoke colour and material work available through Audi Exclusive.

Australian availability and pricing have not been announced. The sources confirm the US allocation and price only, so buyers outside America, including in Australia, will need to wait for Audi's local confirmation.

Scout Motors has begun building validation vehicles at its Blythewood, South Carolina plant, the first real Terra pickups and Traveler SUVs to run through the body, paint and assembly shops as the company tests its production processes. The Volkswagen Group subsidiary says the validation period will continue into 2027, with sales still planned to start in late 2027 and deliveries following in 2028.

Where the factory programme stands

Construction on the $2 billion South Carolina site began about two and a half years ago and is now wrapping up, with most manufacturing equipment already up and running. Scout describes the validation builds as a practice run that lets employees solve problems and refine processes without the pressure of a fixed schedule.

The body shop is also trialling more than 750 robots, which use AI support to monitor roughly 5,000 weld points per vehicle for quality assurance. At full capacity the shop will be able to process about 40 vehicles per hour.

The trucks themselves

Scout plans to launch the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV for the 2028 model year, reviving a nameplate last associated with the practical off-roaders of the 1960s and 1970s. Both are expected to start at under $60,000.

The company has positioned them as hybrid and electric body-on-frame off-roaders that mix modern equipment with retro styling cues.

Scout has not yet published detailed powertrain outputs, range figures or charging times for either model, so buyers will have to wait for those specifications to be confirmed closer to launch.

Timing and what comes next

The schedule matches what Scout CEO Scott Keogh projected last year, when he said the first vehicles would go on sale by the end of 2027. After the current validation phase, Scout says it will build more refined pre-production vehicles before the final production model.

For buyers, the milestone matters less as a manufacturing story than as a signal on timing. A plant that is already running validation builds and testing its weld-quality systems is further along than one still pouring concrete, and Scout's public commitment to late 2027 sales is unchanged. The under-$60,000 starting point is the figure to watch: it puts the Terra and Traveler in the same bracket as established mid-size pickups and SUVs, but with the choice of hybrid or electric power that most of those rivals do not yet offer.