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The most opulent Audi sedan in Australian showrooms has been cut, after reporting its lowest sales on record amid booming SUV demand.
The flagship of the petrol Audi car range – the twin-turbo V8-powered S8 limousine – has been quietly cut from Australian showrooms amid its lowest sales on record.
The S8 performance edition was left as the sole member of Audi's flagship passenger-car range after the standard diesel-powered A8 was cut from the line-up in late 2023.
Now the S8 has also met its end in Australia, a decision seemingly taken nearly a year ago – but not discovered until now – as production ended with the conclusion of Model Year 2024.
The future of the A8 nameplate globally hangs under a cloud, amid declining popularity of large limousines in favour of SUVs.
An electric successor to the A8 – once thought to wear the A9 badge – has long been rumoured, but talk of such a vehicle reaching showrooms has dried up as demand for luxury electric vehicles has waned.
The A8 and S8 remain on sale in overseas markets, including the right-hand-drive UK, but not in Australia.
It means Audi no longer sells a traditional sedan powered by a V8 engine in Australia, as its only eight-cylinder vehicle in a similar category – the RS7 – has a hatchback tailgate, rather than a conventional boot lid.
Just 10 examples of the Audi A8 range were reported as sold last year, its lowest result on record – albeit with the standard A8 out of production –behind even the 12 cars sold in 2000.
Three examples were sold in the first half of 2025, likely among the last in the country.
However, even the 21 A8s and S8s reported as sold in 2022 – and 40 examples in 2019 – are well down on the 125 delivered in its best year, 2011.
Sales of flagship luxury limousines slumped by 44 per cent last year, to just 298 vehicles – down from 788 in 2011, and 1144 in 2007.
Meanwhile, over the same period, deliveries of flagship luxury SUVs – classified in the car industry as 'upper large SUVs above $120,000' – have surged from 905 in 2007, to 3325 in 2022, and a record 4799 in 2024.
On average, only one in eight Audi Australia dealers sold an A8 last year – while for every one that was sold, the German car giant handed over 62 Q8 large SUVs, and 94 Q7 seven-seater SUVs.
Since 1995, Audi has sold 1480 examples of its top-of-the-range limousines, across 1289 A8s and 191 S8s.
The S8 departed showrooms with an RRP of $287,600 plus on-road costs, enough to fit a 420kW/800Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V8 matched with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.
It claimed a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 3.8 seconds – as quick as a base Porsche 911, and faster to accelerate than every production sedan manufactured in Australia.
Over the two full calendar years the latest S8 was sold alongside the A8, the performance edition accounted for just under 45 per cent of deliveries.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
