What happens when you are a rich European who wants a luxurious Audi? You might think that their flagship luxury sedan, the Audi A8, would be suitable, given the list of luxuries it comes with. But if even that’s not up to the mark, then you might say that the Audi A8L Security surely has to be good enough.
We would probably agree with you there, but one such European customer didn’t and wanted a stretch A8 – and on his request, Audi has built the one-off A8L Extended.
Measuring 6.36 meters (20.9 ft) in length and with a wheelbase of 4.22 meters (13.8 ft), the Extended has an entirely reworked body from the A-pillar to the back end.
The car is powered by a 3-litre TFSI engine that produces 310 horsepower and 440 Nm of torque, and comes connected to an 8-speed tiptronic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive system. What this means is that the 2.4 ton Audi can go from a standstill to 100 km/h in a matter of 7.1 seconds, and has an electrically limited top speed of 250 km/h.
The frame of the A8L Extended is made almost entirely from aluminium and has a 1.09 metre (3.6 ft) longer wheelbase and overall length as compared to the standard A8.
The designers have added a 2.4 meter (7.9 ft) glass panel in the roof skin to enhance the sense of spaciousness. The sun blinds – 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. The six seats are upholstered in extra-supple Valcona leather. Rows two and three feature electrically adjustable individual seats and the third row has a continuous centre console, a Rear Seat Entertainment display and a cool box to store refreshments.
According to Audi, they already have requests for more A8L Extended units based on the one-off, and it’s not hard to see why.
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