The first examples of Audi’s sensational new R8 supercar are already changing hands for £10,000 over list price, a month ahead of the car’s official launch.Tamworth-based Redline Motor Company is among the first specialist dealers in the UK to advertise the R8, which is officially sold out in the UK for the first three years of production.Redline’s car is a highly-specced manual with a list price of £86,000, which will be sold on for £96,000.Company owner Sharif Sheen has a further two cars to be delivered in September and November, although he reckons the premium will have started to tail off by then.“We can’t stop people selling their cars on,” said an Audi spokesman, “although we will be checking names of customers against our list of people who have put down deposits.”Any R8 buyer whose name doesn’t match the one on the list will be put to the back of the queue. “We count that as a new order and the buyer will have to start over again,” said Audi.“Apart from that we can’t do anything to stop speculators. It’s just something you have to expect with a new sports car that’s in-demand.” added the spokesman.Audi dealers in the US are asking R8 buyers to sign a legal statement promising that they’ll offer the dealer first refusal on the car when they decide to sell. Although voluntary, if a car is in hot demand with two or three buyers chasing a position on the wait list, the dealer can pick and choose early deliveries for customers willing to comply. “We haven’t heard of that before,” said Audi, “and we won’t be trying that in the UK.”The supply of R8s is likely to even out relatively quickly. This year 450 cars will be delivered between June and December, rising in 2008 to 750, making the R8 a rare, but not unobtainable, supercar.
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