Audi A8 Could Return With Porsche Panamera Underpinnings, but You’re Going to Have to Wait

[Source: Road & Track]

Audi A8 fans may finally have some good news. Audi’s flagship luxury sedan could be sticking around for another generation. The bad news? You might have to wait until the end of the decade to see it.

According to a report from German newspaper Heilbronner Stimme, via Road & Track, the next-generation Audi A8 could share its underpinnings with the next Porsche Panamera. Even more interesting, the A8 could reportedly be built alongside the Panamera at Porsche’s Leipzig factory. Nothing has been finalized, but the arrangement would make plenty of sense.

Audi and Porsche Partnership

Audi and Porsche already share plenty of technology across the Volkswagen Group, and developing a new flagship luxury sedan is an expensive proposition at a time when buyers continue migrating toward SUVs. Sharing a platform and production facilities could help Audi justify keeping the A8 alive while reducing development and manufacturing costs. There are certainly worse cars to share DNA with than the Panamera.

Porsche’s luxury sedan has always placed a greater emphasis on performance than the A8, but both occupy the upper reaches of their respective brands. A common architecture could potentially give the next A8 access to advanced chassis technology and electrified powertrains while allowing Audi to maintain the comfort, understated styling, and quattro capability that have traditionally defined its flagship sedan. The biggest problem is timing.

The current D5-generation A8 has been around since 2017, making it one of the oldest vehicles in Audi’s lineup. According to the report, however, its replacement isn’t expected until around 2030. That would leave Audi relying on the current A8, presumably with additional updates, for several more years.

It also raises plenty of questions about what will eventually power the next A8. Porsche has backed away from plans to make the next Panamera exclusively electric, opening the door for internal-combustion and plug-in-hybrid powertrains to continue. That could give Audi similar flexibility with the A8.

For now, the most important news may simply be that Audi apparently isn’t ready to give up on its flagship sedan. And if borrowing a little Porsche Panamera DNA is what it takes to keep the A8 alive, we’re certainly not going to complain.