This is the Audi Nuvolari, the company’s first-ever high-performance hybrid supercar, and the numbers are suitably ridiculous. There’s a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 800hp, backed up by three electric motors, for a combined output of 1,001PS.

That’s enough to launch the Nuvolari from 0–62mph in just 2.6 seconds, hit 124mph in 6.8 seconds, and continue all the way to more than 217mph.

In other words, it’s not merely fast. It’s the sort of fast that causes nearby landscapes to become abstract art.

Only 499 examples will be built, with customer deliveries beginning in the first half of 2027. And Audi isn’t being shy about what it’s trying to achieve here. The Nuvolari is officially the most powerful and fastest road car the company has ever produced.

Naturally, there’s plenty of Formula 1 influence. The hybrid system uses lightweight axial-flux motors, the active rear wing features a proper DRS function, and the car can generate more than 400kg of downforce when it’s in full attack mode.

Audi’s new “quattro predictive ride” system constantly shuffles power, braking and aerodynamics around the car before things get messy, rather than after.

The structure is equally serious. Audi has combined its Space Frame architecture with a carbon-fibre exterior, creating what amounts to a rolling demonstration of everything its engineers know about lightweight construction.

Even the brakes have been developed with F1-derived carbon technology and can absorb enough energy to make your average family hatchback seem like it’s powered by optimism alone.

Then there’s the styling. Long, low and aggressively sculpted, the Nuvolari is the first production Audi to wear the brand’s new design language. The mid-engine proportions, vast carbon surfaces and deployable rear wing leave little doubt about its intentions.

Named after legendary racing driver Tazio Nuvolari, the car is intended as a technological halo model — a showcase of what happens when Audi’s road-car engineers, motorsport specialists and Formula 1 programme all start sharing notes.

Whether it’s the beginning of a new era for Audi performance cars remains to be seen. What isn’t in doubt is that the company has arrived at the hypercar party carrying 1,001PS, a top speed north of 217mph, and absolutely no interest in making a quiet entrance.