This One-Off Stretched Audi A8 L Is One Of The Coolest Limos Ever Made
So far as we can see, stretched limousines generally fall into two camps: the tacky ones which spend their lives getting spattered with vomit from inebriated hen and stag parties, and the cool ones used for whisking around jolly important people. We find the latter much more interesting, so when Audi revealed this special one-off stretched A8 L today, we sat up and took notice.
It’s been made “at the special request of a European customer” for an undisclosed price, although when pressed Audi UK did tell us that “you can assume that the price of such a car will be at least €350,000.” So, what has this mysterious European customer got themselves for the equivalent of almost £300,000?
First up is the obvious: more length. The ‘A8 L Extended’ gets a wheelbase that’s been stretched by 1.1 metres, bringing the total length to 6.36 metres. As a result the car needed a new outer skin from the A-pillars back and a stretched version of Audi’s space-frame chassis, with extruded aluminium sections used to extend the sills and centre section. As it’s four-wheel drive, a lengthened prop-shaft has been added.
It’s powered by a 3.0-litre TFSI V6 putting out 306bhp, which gets the A8 L E from 0-62mph in a relatively swift 7.1 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph. To cope with the extra mass (the unladen weight is listed as 2418kg), the car gets meatier brakes from the S8, plus stiffer anti-roll bars.
On the inside you’ll find six seats, lashings of posh wood, “extra-supple Valcona leather”, and a giant 2.4 metre-long glass panel in the roof. Those in the third row of seats benefit from a ‘Rear Seat Entertainment’ display and a cool box, should sir want to enjoy a glass of chilled champagne while catching up on whatever it is rich business people watch on TV.
Comments
When you need to tailgate but luxury is life
“Butler, sign my check for €350000.”
Nah, It still lives in the shadow of the S-Class, I’d rather have the Maybach
imo mercedes should try to make a stretched s class maybach too
And the 2 central seats?
The “not rich enough but still pretty rich” seats - the child seats of the luxury world.
Nice!
Instead of aiming to be a better luxury car than a Maybach (which would never be the case), they went for a completely different approach.
Props to Audi. 👏
Too bad it’s one-off :(
I’ll stick with a Roller thanks
Overcompensating for length, are we?
I’m sure they could sell a decent number of these.
Dutch king drives it.