Report: No hope for an Audi A8 RS model, R8 manual apparently axed

CARandDRIVER learned that Audi unfortunately won’t be jumping on the flagship sedan wars as Mercedes-Benz soldiers on with the AMG-ified S-Class variants. And the reason for not choosing to proceed is due to lack of potential demand.

“Any RS would need to offer 20- to 25- percent more power than the same model in S guise. And in this light, an RS8 or RS A8 would not make sense,” said Audi’s quattro GmbH chief engineer, Stephan Reil.

In other news, Audi will drop the manual transmission for the next generation R8 after the brand was deciding on such a decision. Additionally, Audi will be rolling out a new line of TDI diesel engines following the debut of an all-new V10 TDI motor, which debuted on the Nanuk Quattro.

Source: CARandDRIVER