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Formula 1 drivers, VIP guests and tastemakers alike descended upon the South of France last week as Audi unveiled the Nuvolari, the automaker’s first supercar featuring a high-performance hybrid drivetrain.

The location for the car unveiling was a fitting choice for a vehicle of this magnitude and stature, with Audi taking over the grand promenade of the iconic Hotel du Cap-Eden Roc in Antibes for the intimate, invite-only affair.

As guests gathered by the base of the hotel’s famed walkway overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, with flutes of champagne in hand, a leafy floral installation opened up to reveal the new car, driven by Audi F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg, with teammate Gabriel Bortoletto in the passenger’s seat. Cameras flashed as the drivers parked the car on a concrete turntable just steps from the water, as curious onlookers and potential buyers alike vied for a view of Audi’s latest genre-defying release.

Debuting the car in the French Riviera was a deliberate choice, with the Nuvolari launch taking place over the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix weekend (indeed, just three days after the reveal event, the Nuvolari completed two laps of the Monaco F1 circuit ahead of the race). Audi has hailed the Nuvolari’s “Formula 1-inspired technologies,” which include a high-performance hybrid powertrain with four drive units, and a powerful combustion engine that reaches up to 10,000 rpm — a range previously reserved for motorsports. An adaptive rear wing also takes cues from Formula 1 cars. The carbon exterior, meantime, is characterized by Audi’s new signature Titanium color, a paint also seen on the Audi F1 race cars.

Inside, the Nuvolari boasts a a 4.0-liter V8 biturbo engine, 1,001 PS and a top speed of more than 350 km/h (approximately 218 miles per hour), easily becoming the fastest and most powerful vehicle ever produced by the German brand. For even more of a thrill, the car goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds and reaches 200 km/h in 6.8 seconds. The new car begins shipping early next year, with production limited to just 499 units.

The Nuvolari arrives as the first production vehicle under Audi’s new “radical next” philosophy, a mindset based on “simplification, avoiding complexity, avoiding the unnecessary and the superfluous,” according to Massimo Frascella, the Chief Creative Officer of AUDI AG. “Design,” he says, “is a manifestation of this.”

The new car is at once muscular and subtle in appearance, with an instantly distinctive aerodynamic presence that nods to futurism and minimalism in one. Franscella says he was tasked with distilling the look of the car down to “what truly matters, and focusing on those things that can make a difference in their added value. This is not about eliminating everything from the car,” he explains. “It’s eliminating what’s not needed.”

To wit: there are no protruding rear wings or even visible door handles, while the iconic Audi “rings” logo is grafted directly into the spoiler, rather than being raised and glued on. Merging precise lines with the sleek and sophisticated carbon fiber reinforced polymer, everything is integrated seamlessly to give the appearance of a sculptural car molded from a single piece of material. 

The feeling that Frascella wants to evoke when people see the car (or are lucky enough to take it for a spin): “It’s a feeling of quality and reassurance,” he says. “It’s a feeling of solidity, of precision; a car that demands respect without having to say anything. It’s not aggressive or something you’re scared of,” he adds, “but it has a presence, and has a gravity.”

The new car takes its name from the legendary Italian driver Tazio Nuvolari, who was known as a pioneer of autosports, having transitioned from motorcycle racing to auto racing. Nicknamed the “Flying Mantuan” (a nod to his hometown of Mantua, Italy), Nuvolari was a dominant driver in the 1930s for Auto Union, a predecessor to the Audi Auto Group of today. Nuvolari was also known for always wearing a yellow sweater when he raced, and Audi honored the late driver with yellow detailing on their driver uniforms and F1 cars in Monaco.

According to Audi, deliveries of the new supercar will begin “in the first half of 2027.”