- The Q9 that debuted this year will not be a replacement for the A8.
- Audi says a decision on the A8’s successor has been made.
- The new flagship model arrived at the end of the decade.
It’s been a month since Audi closed the A8 order books in Germany. While the company has not confirmed the demise of the full-size luxury sedan, such a move usually marks the beginning of the end for a car. With the release of its annual report today, we expect its flagship model to be mentioned in it. However, that is not the case.
Its absence from important official documents further fuels our curiosity about the model’s uncertain future. We reached out to Audi to clarify whether the upcoming launch of the Q9 will make the three-row SUV a de facto flagship. The answer is more complicated than expected. Here’s what A8 spokesperson Marcel Bestle told us:
“The decision on the successor to the A8 has been taken and we intend to present it towards the end of the decade. We will communicate further details in due course. The Audi Q9 will expand Audi’s portfolio of large full-size SUVs.”
2021 Audi Grandsphere Concept
” width=”16″ height=”9″ loading=”lazy”/>
2021 Audi Grandsphere Concept
Reading between the lines, Audi doesn’t see the Q9 as a direct replacement for the A8. The latter will return someday in some form, and logic suggests that it won’t be an SUV, as it would risk overlapping the Q9. Some of you may remember that the Grandsphere was once touted as a replacement for the A8. However, the concept is almost five years old.
Former Audi design boss Marc Lichte called it a “real tease” of 2023, saying the EV was “very close” to a production model. In the end, it never happened. In contrast, the A8 survived for a few more years and is still available today in key markets such as the United States and China.
Meanwhile, Mercedes recently updated the S-Class, and BMW is about to launch a facelifted 7 Series. With the Lexus LS out of the picture, it’s going to be a two-way battle for supremacy in the shrinking full-size luxury sedan segment. For those looking for something different, the Genesis G90 remains an option.
26
Motorcycle Pickup1: We’ll never know if Grandsphere would have been a commercial success. While it looked promising, some argued that it was for the best that the concept never reached production, given its electric drive system. Perhaps demand for luxury electric vehicles is still not at a level where Audi would feel comfortable giving the model the green light.
With the arrival of the Q9 this year, Audi is temporarily at the top of the range until the next A8 arrives towards the end of the decade. It remains to be seen whether it will feature a combustion engine, but we’re not ruling out ICE power. The Q9 uses the Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), an architecture that will also underpin Porsche’s large three-row SUV.
A successor to the A8 should be technically feasible, even if it doesn’t have a traditional sedan shape. Hopefully this isn’t the umpteenth SUV…
