Audi took 405 days to move the Nuvolari from first sketch to drivable prototype, a pace the company presents as a new standard for its vehicle development process. A newly released making-of video traces the project from early concept work through development and testing to endurance runs with drivers of the Audi Revolut F1 Team and the model’s world premiere in the South of France. The Audi Nuvolari shown throughout the program is a near-production prototype, which Audi says is the fastest and most powerful road car in its history.
Highlights
- 405 days elapsed between the first sketch and the completed drivable prototype
- Development work ran across five European locations, from cold-weather testing in Lapland to high-speed running at Nardò, Italy
- Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg, drivers for the Audi Revolut F1 Team, took over testing duties at Nardò and Neustadt an der Donau
- The Nuvolari premiered June 4, 2026 and has since been named “Design of the Year” at the CAR Genius Awards
A Focused Project Team Compressed the Schedule
Audi credits the timeline to an autonomous project team that brought design, vehicle technology, aerodynamics, and powertrain specialists together from the outset. The company says short lines of communication, quick decisions, and close integration across disciplines allowed the program to advance at an unusual pace.
“The Nuvolari project is a striking example of how quickly we at Audi can bring an idea to life — that is ‘Vorsprung durch Technik,'” says Audi CEO Gernot Döllner. Audi positions the model as more than a performance flagship, describing it as a technological reference point that guides future development work and feeds the brand’s wider technology portfolio.
Rouven Mohr, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development, frames the result in performance terms. “The Audi Nuvolari is the fastest and most powerful road car we’ve ever produced,” he says.
Chief Creative Officer Massimo Frascella ties the outcome to the working method itself. “The Audi Nuvolari shows that, when you have the right mindset and close teamwork, you can succeed in delivering rapidly without making any compromises,” he says.
Where the Development Work Happened
The program was distributed across five European sites, each handling a distinct engineering discipline:
- Ingolstadt — initial design work and wind tunnel testing
- Lapland — cold-weather testing with technology demonstrators
- Neckarsulm — lightweight construction
- Southern Spain — suspension tuning
- Nardò, Italy — high-speed testing
Döllner points to the first road running as the milestone that registered internally. “When the Nuvolari took to the road for the first time, the best part was seeing the expressions on the faces of the people who had developed it,” he recalls. “Seeing something that had existed only as a sketch come to life for the first time was indescribable.”
Formula 1 Drivers Handled the Final Phase
Once the project team presented the drivable prototype, testing passed to the Audi Revolut F1 Team drivers. Gabriel Bortoleto ran the car on the high-speed track at the Nardò Technical Centre, saying beforehand: “I’m definitely going to push it.” His assessment afterward centered on pace and character: “The car is extremely quick, the sound is incredible. I need more laps; I need to get more of this feeling.”
Teammate Nico Hülkenberg took the car to its limits at the test track in Neustadt an der Donau. “The acceleration and the full system output of more than 1,000 PS — that’s a real statement.” PS is the metric horsepower unit standard in German engineering documentation; 1,000 PS converts to roughly 986 hp.
Premiere, Monaco, and a Design Award
The Nuvolari made its world premiere in Antibes on June 4, 2026, followed shortly afterward by its road debut at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco. “We couldn’t have found a more fitting location for the first drive of the Nuvolari,” Döllner says. Hülkenberg adds: “Monaco is one of the most challenging and difficult tracks. This is where we’ll present the Nuvolari to the fans and the world.”
The Nuvolari is also the first series-production vehicle to carry Audi’s new design language. It has since been named “Design of the Year” at the UK-based CAR Genius Awards, where the jury cited the car for bringing restraint and clarity to the supercar segment while producing a design Audi describes as strikingly new yet unmistakably its own.
