Audi S8 (2011) Confirmed – Audi S7 and Audi S1 planned

Audi has confirmed the 2011 S8 and an S1 and S7

Audi Design Director Stefan Sielaff has revealed that there will be an S8 version of the new A8, together with an S7 and an S1.

The ink has just dried on our report on the new 2011 Audi A8 (well, you know what I mean) when we got news that Audi are going to produce an Audi S8 , despite earlier reports that there would be no S8 for the 2011 model, or even the W12 A8. But it doesn’t stop there. In an unguarded moment Audi’s Design Director Stefan Sielaff said that the ‘Design Grammar’ of the A8 would extend in to the S8, the S7 and the S1.

I’m not so sure about the emphasis on the ‘Design Grammar’ of the A8, because to our eyes it looks just like a super-sized A4, but the interesting bit is that there will not only be an S8, but that the yet-to-be-released A7 will spawn an ‘S’ version as will the A1.

When we reported on the A1 yesterday, we said it was clear that Audi were planning to out-MINI MINI with the breadth of options and models on the A1 and that an Audi S1 variant seemed highly likely. And it obviously is.

There is no news on the powertrains these new ‘S’ Audis will use, but it seems highly unlikely that Audi will stick with the V10 for the 2011 S8; much more likely we’ll see a turbo V8. But Stefan Sielaff did day that Audi will seek to differentiate the new S models from the standard offerings with a more liberal use of carbon fibre and aluminum.

Sounds interesting.