Audi's Luxurious A8 W12 Exclusive Limited Series, Only 50 Units to Be Made [Updated]

Update: Audi has finally released a full gallery of photos of the new A8 W12 Exclusive

Audi will build a special edition of its recently refreshed A8 flagship sedan. Available only with the 500PS (493hp) 6.0-liter W12 engine and, subsequently, only as a long-wheelbase model, the A8 Exclusive will be built at the Quattro GmbH facility in Neckarsulm.

Strictly limited to 50 units, the small-series production model will be produced beginning in March 2014. Audi has only released one photo of the new model which shows the interior of the car, where the most significant upgrades were added compared to the standard A8 L W12 model (featured in the photo gallery below).

The seats are covered in aniline leather in the color Agatha cognac, produced by Italian designer furniture maker Poltrona Frau. Audi says this leather is particularly soft and natural looking. The center sections of the seats feature diamond quilting, while the inlays are made of fine grain olive ash natural silver brown.

The gray-brown shade matches the granite gray piping, stitching and central pleat of the seats. The granite gray shade is also found on the steering wheel, the door top shoulders and the upper section of the instrument panel, which is covered with Nappa leather. The headlining features snow white Alcantara, the rear shelf is covered with cognac brown Alcantara and the carpeting is jet gray.

Audi says each of the 50 vehicles will have a special logo on the door sill trims, but doesn’t say anything about exterior upgrades.

By Dan Mihalascu

PHOTO GALLERY

Is the New Mercedes-Benz S-Class a Better Luxury Car Than the Range Rover and Audi A8?

We’ve seen many reviews of the all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class lately, and the unanimous opinion is that the new luxury sedan is a class above all of its competitors. However, when it comes to luxury cars, things are not that simple to classify. Nowadays, traditional luxury sedans face stiff competition from other luxury vehicles as well, like SUVs and four-door coupes.

This is why AutoExpress decided to test the S-Class against a traditional rival like the Audi A8 (albeit the pre-facelift model) and against a vehicle that theoretically belongs to another segment, the Land Rover Range Rover.

One of the reasons the magazine chose the luxury SUV was because it won Best Luxury Car at the 2013 Auto Express New Car Awards, following six consecutive years of S-Class supremacy.

I suspect the award may have had something to do with British pride as well, but can the Range Rover beat the S-Class in a comparative review? You’ll just have to watch the video to find out.

By Dan Mihalascu

VIDEO

UK Insurer Parts the Most Unreliable and Costly Car to Fix

In an article on a BMW-faced Honda Accord we found for sale on Craigslist back in 2008, we wrote that in a perfect world, our ultimate car would be “designed by Italians, engineered by Germans, built by Japanese and marketed by Americans”.
So, what’s the worst car one could imagine? Well, if we played around with the above statements, we’d say one designed by Japanese, engineered by Americans, built by Italians and marketed by Germans.
But UK insurance firm Warranty Direct had something a little bit different in mind. Instead of playing the origin card, the company decided to check out its database of 50,000 live policies on cars aged five years on average to part the UK’s most unreliable vehicle that would break down every other month and cost an average of £2,050 (equal to US$3,270 - €2,330) to fix each year.

Ward's Auto Announces the 10 Best Car Interiors of 2011

Like every year, Ward's AutoWorld magazine picks the best interiors the automotive industry has to offer. For 2011, the publication chose 10 the ten best interiors the offer after editors analyzed 51 vehicles that were all-new or featured significantly upgraded interior. Ward's Auto picked the 10 winners from all segments, with the finalists including three luxury brands, three economy cars, a sport sedan, a minivan, an SUV and a family sedan.
If you’re still with us, the top 10 winners for 2011, in alphabetical order, are:

Audi A8
BMW X3 xDrive35i
Chevrolet Cruze 2LT RS
Dodge Charger Rallye Plus
Ford Focus Titanium
Honda Odyssey Elite
Hyundai Elantra Limited
Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit
Kia Optima EX
Volvo S60

Audi: 38 Percent of all Models Sold in 2010 were Equipped with Quattro Drive

In 2010, the year that Audi celebrated the 30th anniversary of the quattro, it sold an impressive 437,792 quattro-equipped cars, or about 38 percent of its total production. The brand with the four rings said it sells more all-wheel drive vehicles than any other premium manufacturer in the world.

Panzer on Wheels: Audi Unveils the Armored 2011 A8 L Security

As any self-respecting luxury car manufacturer, Audi is also offering its customers BRVs or Bullet Resistant Vehicles, with the latest such model being the W12-powered 2011 A8 L Security. Set to go on sale in late summer, this...panzer on wheels will also be available with another, as of yet unspecified powerplant, starting from 2012.
To the untrained eye, the 5.27 meters (208 inches) long sedan is almost identical to the standard A8, but looks are definitely deceiving as the Security is said to comply with the strictest standards in ballistic protection and can even withstand an explosion and still offer adequate protection for its passengers.

The Audi A8 Says, "Long Live the T-Shifter!"

When Hyundai launched the i30 small car on the Australian market, it marked the end of not only the Excel/Accent lineage down under but also the end of the automatic T-shifter. The Accent, a subcompact design available in either a four door sedan or five door hatchback body style, was the last car sold here to feature the venerable (if archaic) T-shaped automatic gear stick.
The T-shifter was born in the 1960s, as American automakers moved away from the steering column mounted automatic and towards a system that reduced complexity and design differentiation between its automatic and manual models. As the ‘80s moved into the ‘90s, automakers - for whatever reason - moved away from the T-shift and toward the semi-ubiquitous, upright “drumstick” shifter.

Unholy Tuning: Audi R8 Sedan Based on A8 Limo

If you were ever wondering what an actuall Audi R8 sports sedan would look like, sorry to say, you're out of luck. However, if by any twisted chance you're interested in finding out what would happen if a first-generation A8 and R8 got naughty in bed, scroll down and check out the rest of the photos. According to the forum members of the Audizine site, the R8-wannabe sports sedan was snagged outside Hooters (now, why aren't we surprised...) in Montreal, Canada.

ABT Treats New Audi A8 with 385-Diesel-Ponies and Styling Kit

Not quite the Audi S8-alternative we were expecting from ABT, but the diesel-powered AS8 appears to be a promising start. Using the 2011 A8 with the 4.2-liter V8 TDI as a base, ABT Sportsline tweaked the turbo diesel engine boosting output from 350HP and 800Nm to 385HP and 880Nm / 649 lb-ft of peak torque.

As no ABT conversion would be complete without the usual styling upgrades, the German tuner bundled a body kit comprising of a front spoiler, side skirt, a somewhat discreet boot lid spoiler and a new rear apron housing a diffuser and the new quad tail pipes.

Allegedly Official Audi A5 Cabrio, A5 Sportback, A7 and A8 Sketches Appear on the web

Unless Audi has some sort of top secret website that it is only known to a couple of journalists around the world and has somehow escaped our attention -you'll be the judge of that, we're obliged to treat these teaser sketches depicting the German firm's future models which first appeared on the Dutch site Autoweek, either as a leak or as non official. Just for the record, Autoweek vaguely states "there are sketches of future Audi models around the web" - whatever that means. -Continued
In any case, the grayscale sketches showcase Audi's future portfolio including the 2009 A5 Cabriolet and its 5-door hatchback-coupe sibling called the A5 Sportback, the 2011 A7 four-dour coupe which is based on the A6 platform and will compete against Merc's CLS along with the next generation 2010 A8 luxury sedan.

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Via: Autoweek.nl