Photo: SB-Medien
Audi has made some pretty special super-sedans over the years, but the all-new S8 for 2020MY promises to be a technological showcase. Unfortunately, it's no much to look at right now at the moment.
A prototype for the next Audi S8 was spied earlier today at the famous Nurburgring track. While it's not wearing any camouflage, the bodywork is mostly identical to that of the standard A8 saloon, which was revealed on July 11th in Barcelona.
With most Audis, you get some sort of preview of the future S and RS models from the S Line body kit. But the A8 is super-clean, and we've only noted one tuning project since then. By comparison, he mear facelift of the S-Class has been inundated with attention.
But something has changed, the exhaust, which has gained a quad-tip setup. We want to say that it's the trademark of Audi S models, but the SQ5 skipped it entirely.
If the standard features aren't good enough for you, at least notice how performance brakes have been hidden behind the luxury car wheels. This might or might not also be a real diffuser.
What's under the hood? It's obviously going to be a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, mechanically similar to the one in the new Porsche Panamera Turbo. The previous S8 also had a 4.0 TFSI with either 520 or 605 HP. Rumors have put the 2020 output at anything from 540 to 650 HP, and frankly, it all seems plausible.
There's even the possibility of an S8 e-tron, adding a plug-in hybrid setup for even more power and higher cost, just like the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. But honestly, Audi is probably too busy making SUVs to figure that out right now.
An all-wheel-drive system and 8-speed automatic will also be part of the system. The platform that allows such engine sharing is called MLB. Honestly, the S8 is just an excuse to push that amazing interior to 300 km/h and see what happens.
With most Audis, you get some sort of preview of the future S and RS models from the S Line body kit. But the A8 is super-clean, and we've only noted one tuning project since then. By comparison, he mear facelift of the S-Class has been inundated with attention.
But something has changed, the exhaust, which has gained a quad-tip setup. We want to say that it's the trademark of Audi S models, but the SQ5 skipped it entirely.
If the standard features aren't good enough for you, at least notice how performance brakes have been hidden behind the luxury car wheels. This might or might not also be a real diffuser.
What's under the hood? It's obviously going to be a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, mechanically similar to the one in the new Porsche Panamera Turbo. The previous S8 also had a 4.0 TFSI with either 520 or 605 HP. Rumors have put the 2020 output at anything from 540 to 650 HP, and frankly, it all seems plausible.
There's even the possibility of an S8 e-tron, adding a plug-in hybrid setup for even more power and higher cost, just like the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. But honestly, Audi is probably too busy making SUVs to figure that out right now.
An all-wheel-drive system and 8-speed automatic will also be part of the system. The platform that allows such engine sharing is called MLB. Honestly, the S8 is just an excuse to push that amazing interior to 300 km/h and see what happens.
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