There’s no doubt that the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class are the leaders in the field of luxury German limos, but Audi isn’t giving up the fight, despite suggestions that the A8 may be on its way out. A new report citing the Heilbronner Stimme newspaper and Reuters, courtesy of Automotive News Europe, reveals that Audi’s next-generation A8 will be built in Leipzig with influence from fellow Volkswagen Group member Porsche, which runs the plant there. The A8 has traditionally been built at Audi’s Neckarsulm facility in Bavaria, where the A5 and A6 are also made, but it appears that the VW Group’s bean counters, who intend to slash the group’s model lineup by half before the end of the decade, think that building the A8 on a platform shared with the next Porsche Panamera is the way to survive.
New A8 Could Take Years to Appear
Audi
Audi is phasing out its D5 (4N) A8 after applying some mild updates earlier this year for 2027 because sales are horrendous, with Dataforce revealing that just 966 examples of both the A8 and its S8 high-performance variant were sold in Europe through August. In the U.S., Audi sold barely half that figure in the first six months of 2026, with sales down to 513 units, a 31.5 percent decrease from H1 2025. The MY2027 refresh and any successors may have to soldier on for a long time, though, with the report saying that the new A8 is only expected to enter production in Leipzig “from 2030 at the earliest.” While the move may have the intended effect of cutting manufacturing costs and development times, it places uncertainty over the future of some 15,000 Neckarsulm workers. Audi has already said it will cut 7,500 jobs by the end of 2029, and if the A8 leaves, it seems logical to assume that many of those redundancies will occur at the Neckarsulm factory.
VW Group’s Uncertain Future
Audi
With increasing competition from China, both in Europe and abroad, and U.S. tariffs playing their role in minimizing profit margins, VW Group plants in Emden, Hanover, and Zwickau could face staggered closure from 2031 unless other cost-saving measures are proposed, and Group CEO Oliver Blume has posited the idea of using these plants for defense contracts or as anchors for Chinese partnerships. The problem is that even the relatively popular S-Class and 7 Series do not sell as prolifically as they once did, so while sharing a platform with Porsche will surely contribute to improved dynamics, tech, and luxury, any stretch luxury sedan, let alone the laggard A8, is going to be a tough sell in the coming decade. Unless, of course, the market shows a resurgent interest in lower vehicles rather than SUVs. Whichever way the wind blows, Audi and the VW Group are in a precarious position, and the coming years will be critical to their survival.
