Audi Has Officially Ended Production of the A8 Flagship Sedan

Ever since Skipp Sudduth asked for “Something very Fast. Audi S8. Something that can shove a little bit,” in 1998's Ronin, Audi's big body sedan has been the stuff of legend. Mercedes-Benz S-Class? Too obvious. BMW 7-Series? You don't want to look like a wannabe James Bond. But an Audi A8? That's what you drive when you have a nickname like The Transporter.

However, as appealing as the A8 is on-screen, it's not really been much of a mover in Audi showrooms of late. Almost nothing depreciates faster than a full-size German luxury sedan—you might as well invest in an ice sculpture—and both BMW and Mercedes have been outselling Audi in the segment. Thus, Audi has just pressed pause on production of the A8, with no immediate plans in place to reboot it.

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The Neckarsulm plant where the A8 was being built has already pivoted to production of the Audi A5 in both sedan and Avant forms, in standard and S5 or RS5 trims. Audi has been headquartered in Ingolstadt since the 1980s, long enough to have that city be shorthand for the company the way Stuttgart is for Porsche, but the Neckarsulm plant has roots stretching back to the nineteenth century via NSU, one of the companies that ended up forming Audi's four rings

Launched in 1994, the A8 arrived with aluminum-intensive construction to keep weight down and an available 4.2-liter V8 that still rates as one of the best-sounding engines ever made. It was businesslike, composed with all-wheel-drive for all conditions, managing to be both discreet and muscular, like a bodyguard in a well-tailored suit.

Subsequent generations remained a little more understated than rivals from Mercedes and BMW, but the fifth-gen car that's just exited production was only a year away from celebrating its tenth birthday. Even with a mid-cycle facelift, that's a bit long in the tooth for a flagship.

Taking over flagship duties is Audi's Q9 SUV, a proper three-row family hauler that's aimed at the BMW X7 and Mercedes GLS. The Q9 is certainly large and imposing, and it can carry more passengers and cargo than any A8 model. Does it have that same charisma? Put it this way: Jason Bateman is a very talented actor and producer. He is not Jason Statham.

Meanwhile, Audi may return with some kind of electrified successor to the A8, perhaps as an extended, embiggened version of whatever the new battery-electric A4 ends up looking like. Until then, any Audi-loving underworld soldiers of fortune will have to make do with a brown Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 and a rocket launcher.

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