Third row (left) and second row (right) are like Lufthansa business class for their occupants.
Audi has gone to even greater lengths to deliver all of the familiar trappings associated with its flagship A8L model and created an entirely unique format of considerable proportions.
At the special request of a European customer, the premium German automaker has created the Audi A8L Extended, a built-to-order model measuring 6.36 metres in length and with a wheelbase of 4.22 metres. The A8L Extended affords exquisite comfort for chauffeur-driven passengers occupying its five seats.
Experts invested almost a year in developing and building the exceptionally long luxury saloon. The result is an exclusive one-off specimen that meets the high standards of the production model in every domain. The major challenges concerned the safety and rigidity of the extra-large body, as well as the styling of the silhouette.
The Audi A8L Extended benefits from the low weight of the production model’s body, which uses an Audi Space Frame design and is made almost entirely from aluminium. For the built-to-order version the engineers extended the side sills and centre tunnel using extruded aluminium sections. Inside the tunnel, these also assist with the air routing. A double rear bulkhead separates the passenger compartment from the luggage compartment, while the roof incorporates additional aluminium profiled tubes and cross-braces. These measures provide torsional and flexural rigidity almost on a par with the A8L.
The XXL saloon comes in discreet Moonlight Blue metallic and offers 1.09 metres more wheelbase and overall length than the Audi A8. To maintain a harmonious roofline, the entire body from the A-pillars back has been reworked.
The experts also embedded a 2.40-metre glass panel in the roof skin to enhance the sense of spaciousness. The sunblinds, one for each row of seats, prevent overheating of the interior in strong sunlight. The headlights and rear lights incorporate small side marker lights, as is prescribed by law for vehicles of this length.
All passengers face the direction of travel in the Audi A8L Extended. The six seats are upholstered in extra-supple Valcona leather, in the colour velvet beige. Rows two and three feature electrically adjustable individual seats. The third row has a continuous centre console, a Rear Seat Entertainment display and a coolbox.
The one-off A8 version is powered by a 3-litre TFSI engine developing 310bhp and 440Nm. This propels the saloon from zero to 100km/h in 7.1 seconds and up to an electronically governed top speed of 250km/h. An 8-speed Tiptronic transmission transfers engine power to the quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. The 19‑inch wheels in 15‑spoke design conceal the brake system of the Audi S8, which assures outstanding deceleration of the specially stretched limousine, which has an unladed weight of 2418kg.
Parallel-parking this stretched A8 might take up to 8 minutes.
Read our review of the non-stretched Audi A8L 3.0T.
Read about the Audi A8’s starring role in The Transporter 2 and 3.
