THE BREAKDOWN The Q9 debuting this year won't be a replacement for the A8. Audi says a decision about the A8's successor has been made. A new flagship model arrives late this decade. It’s been a month since Audi closed the order books for the A8 in Germany. Although the company stopped short of confirming the full-size luxury sedan’s demise, such a move typically marks the beginning of the end for a car. With the release of its annual report earlier today, we expected the flagship model to be mentioned in it. However, that wasn’t the case. Its absence from such an important official document further fueled our curiosity about the model’s uncertain future. We reached out to Audi to clarify whether the impending launch of the Q9 will make the three-row SUV the de facto flagship. The answer is more complicated than expected. Here’s what A8 spokesperson Marcel Bestle told us: 'The decision on an A8 successor has been taken and we intend to present it towards the end of this decade. We are going to communicate further details in due course. The Audi Q9 is going to expand the Audi portfolio at the top as large full-size SUV.' 2021 Audi Grandsphere concept Reading between the lines, Audi doesn’t see the Q9 as a direct replacement for the A8. The latter will return one day in some form, and logic suggests it won’t be an SUV, as that would risk overlap with the Q9. Some of you may recall that the Grandsphere was once touted as an A8 replacement. However, the concept is already nearly five years old. Former Audi design boss Marc Lichte called it a "concrete teaser" back in 2023, saying the EV was “very close” to a production model. Ultimately, that never happened. Instead, the A8 lingered for a few more years and is still available today in key markets such as the United States and China. In the meantime, Mercedes recently updated the S-Class, and BMW is about to roll out the 7 Series facelift. With the Lexus LS out of the picture, it’s shaping up to be a two-way battle for supremacy in a shrinking full-size luxury sedan segment. For those looking for something different, the Genesis G90 remains an option. Motor1's Take: We’ll never know whether the Grandsphere would have been a commercial success. While it looked promising, some would argue it’s for the best that the concept never reached production, given its electric drivetrain. Perhaps demand for luxury EVs still isn’t at a level where Audi would have felt comfortable greenlighting the model. With the Q9 arriving this year, Audi has a temporary stand-in at the top of the range until the next A8 arrives closer to the end of the decade. Whether it will feature combustion engines remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t rule out ICE power. The Q9 rides on the Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), an architecture that will also underpin a large three-row SUV from Porsche. An A8 successor should be technically feasible, even if it doesn’t take the form of a traditional sedan. Let’s hope it won’t be the umpteenth SUV... We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motor1.com? Take our 3 minute survey. - The Motor1.com Team
