The Audi R8 is an amazing piece of kit. Enough aluminium to make Boeings jealous, a potent
V8 engine that is giving severe headaches to Italians from the Bologna area and Quattro all-wheel drive that sucks terrain like a PR upstart who just landed a big account it cannot chew. When Audi officially launched the car in India there were a few who laughed out loud – after all it was a bad year for the stock market and the news was not looking good for 2009. Not exactly the year to launch, hold your breath, a Rs 1.17 crore (ex-showroom) supercar then, right? Or so thought you and me.

Audi India has managed to sell its quota of 15 R8s for 2008 and is now in the process of delivering the cars to supercar starved super rich Indians who certainly do not belong to the set who checks the price of socks they buy at a supermarket (heck, am sure they don’t collect their free mugs too!). And Audi did a wonderful year selling 1050 cars including 350 Q7s (yup, those machines that answer to the tag ‘mother of all SUVs’).

2008 will also go down in the history of Indian automobile industry where imported motorcycles made their mark. Following the launch of the Yamaha R1 and MT01 (Rs 14 lakh odd for each) it was Suzuki’s turn to launch the world’s fastest production motorcycle, the Hayabusa and the 1800 cc power cruiser called the Intruder.  Recession? Is it another name for the season when everything is up to 50 per cent off?

(We hear there are only 20 Audi R8s coming to India in the year 2009, so act fast before your shareholders come to know!)