Audi finds itself in a bit of a bind when it comes to available products to sell, versus market perceptions here in the U.S. They make a great range of cars, from large to small, but they’re not perceived as a small carmaker in America, more of a German luxury car brand. On top of that, if Audi were to bring over some of their smaller cars to the American market, they would end up going head-to-head with corporate parent Volkswagen.

So what’s a well-engineered German brand to do? Well, Audi thinks they’ve got it figured out, and us gearheads look to be the beneficiaries.

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When Audi rolled out the stunning e-Tron recently at the Frankfurt Auto Show, very few thought that it would see the light of production. Nor did most people realize that the e-Tron’s underpinnings would be based on a completely unknown Audi sportscar. But they were, and the new sportscar will be called the R4. As the name implies, it’s like an R8, only smaller. So you might want to look at these developments this way: The e-Tron is an eco-bent halo car, and the R4 is its “normal” engined variant.

The R4 will be a junior version of the R8, sort of like midget racers were to full-blown Indy roadsters back in the 50s. To go with its diminutive scale, the R4 will feature a set of drivetrains different from its R8 big brother (although the idea of squeezing that V10 from the R8 into the R4 does have a certain appeal). The top-of-the-line model will feature the e-Tron’s all-electric setup.

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So, Audi rolled out the pretty damn impressive e-Tron at Frankfurt this year. They had been rumored to be working on some sort of EV for a while, but nobody expected them to show what is, essentially, an electric powered version of their impressive R8 supercar. On e the one hand, though, Audi had to do something. The gauntlet had been thrown down by German rival Mercedes with their electric version of the upcoming re-done Gullwing. So it follows that Audi had to respond. Just in time to get used to the shock of the e-Tron, comes the second stunning announcement that Audi is actually going to build and sell the thing.

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It looks like one of consequences of VW buying Porsche is that the controversial Porsche Panamera is likely to become some sort of permium, high end VW product. If not ending up a VW, the four-door coupe’s platform might end up with one of VW’s other brands, either Bentley, Bugatti or Audi. After amortizing all the development costs, the platform will most likely go away all together next decade.

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So much electric cars being over glorified go-karts. There were rumors flying all over the place before this years Frankfurt show that Audi was up to something. Audi had a micro-site up about ‘the future being electric’ and the Euro press kept saying stuff about an electric R8. Turns out it was all true, and Audi rolled out what was essentially a modified R8, and one that boasted highly impressive performance numbers.

Just how impressive? How about 3,319 lb-ft of torque for starters?

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Now it’s officially official, as they say. The long rumored, we know it’s coming anyway drop top version of Audi’s R8 has finally broken cover. “Breathtakingly dynamic open-top driving,” says Audi, and I’m not going to argue. The “normal” R8 is pretty impressive, especially when you consider what they sell for; which in the super car world, is sort of a bargain.

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way right off the top: That root beer brown color is terrible. That was a shade that barely worked in 1975, by now, it shouldn’t be anywhere near a new car, let alone the highly anticipated Audi R8 Spyder.

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