The V8 is an almost forgotten luxury car from
Audi’s late 1980’s line-up, like the Audi 200 before it. It’s easy to get it confused with the A8
that came after it – a car that drove Audi to new levels of opulence that allowed it
to compete with the likes of BMW’s 7-series and Mercedes’ S-Class. But why was the V8 only in production for
5 short years, and for such a short-lived car, was it a success? This is the Audi V8 Story. (music) The Audi V8 was the culmination of a long
and winding history to catch up with their rivals Mercedes-Benz and to a lesser extent
BMW, so it helps to set the scene with a little Audi history. Volkswagen had started piecing together what
would become the luxury Audi brand in 1964 with a controlling stake in Auto Union. This was a historic company going all the
way back to 1885. It switched to war production in the 1940s
but after the war found its factory on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Despite the Soviets making Auto Union cars
in a rebuilt factory in East Germany, a new Auto Union was established in West Germany. It started building spare parts for pre-war
Auto Union cars but developed into making new cars for the blossoming Germany economy. It was acquired by Mercedes-Benz who poured
money into the company. The vehicles were improved, and the old-fashioned
2-stroke engines Auto Union had been using were replaced with a modern Mercedes-Benz
4-cylinder engine. Mercedes arrangement with US distributors
allowed Auto Union to establish a presence across the Atlantic. But Mercedes weren’t happy with their purchase. In 1964 they sold a controlling interest to
rival Volkswagen who saw potential in the new cars Auto Union was creating, and their
new 4-cylinder Mercedes engine. VW renamed the brand to “Audi”, and the
first fruits of Mercedes’ investment appeared in 1965 as a car initially called just the
“Audi”, but later renamed the Audi 72. Audi were moving upmarket, using a few tricks
from old parent Mercedes-Benz. But with new mass-market parent Volkswagen
calling the shots, could they design new luxury cars themselves? Audi’s technical director Ludwig Klaus,
formerly of Mercedes-Benz, had been told by his bosses at VW to merely supervise the current
Audi models, but he felt Audi needed a new flagship car – something that could take
on his old company. He started work in secret. The new car would have a lighter body and
better aerodynamics to take maximum advantage of their new 4-cylinder engine. Work on the new car was going well, but at
some point he was going to have to tell his bosses what he’d been working on! After getting an agreement from VW that Audi
could make “body modifications”, they invited Volkswagen’s management to Audi’s
headquarters at Ingolstadt. Ludwig told his wife the day of the reveal
that he might be back at lunchtime, and if he did that meant he’d been fired. When he arrived at work, the VW bosses had
already arrived. Klaus didn’t even bother to take his coat
off, he just unveiled the car, waiting for their verdict. After what seemed like an age, VW gave their
blessing and the Audi 100 was born, that would be sold as the 5000 in North America. Audi had hoped they’d sell 300,000 of their
new large car. In the end Audi produced 800,000 first generation
Audi 100’s, replacing it with the second generation in 1976. By this time Audi’s muscle and production
capacity had been bolstered by the acquisition of NSU, but the competition hadn’t been
standing still. Mercedes had formalised their “special class”
of cars into the “S-Class” in 1972, with high-powered 6-cylinder and V8 engines. BMW would launch their luxury competitor,
the 7-series in 1977. Audi was clearly still the young upstart that
needed to learn a thing or two from its German rivals, but parent VW was expecting big things
of its new luxury brand. The higher quality second-generation Audi
100 included not a 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder engine, but a 5-cylinder engine that took
Audi quite a while to get right. They took a further step in luxury with the
1979 Audi 200, also known as the 500, but still known as a 5000 in North America. They had intended to use a wankel rotary engine,
but like many manufacturers parent Volkswagen couldn’t make it work reliably. So, the 200 used the 100’s 5-cylinder engine,
and turbocharging got the power output to 167hp (125 kW). Available with or without the turbo, this
took Audi into a whole new category. The 200 included cruise control, electric
windows front and back, heated front seats, and rear passengers even got their own separate
cushions! The turbo kicked in around 3,000 rpm with
a gusto, making this a potent beast! But for all the luxury features, the Audi
still trailed the competition quite a bit on performance. That innovative 5-cylinder engine just wasn’t
a 6-cylinder or V8. Performance and Top Trumps numbers are only
part of the story, but the overall package didn’t have what it took to beat the established
brands. Audi would further their ambitions as a luxury
maker in 1982, not with more bling, but with engineering know-how with the new Audi 100. The car proved it was possible to make a car
with great aerodynamics without having to compromise on inside space or styling. Previous luxury Audi’s had a tendency to
rust, not great for a luxury car, so the new generation got a fully galvanised chassis
that allowed Audi to offer a ten-year rust warranty. The 200 got the 100’s new shape, albeit
with some upmarket body details. For the first time the 200 also came as an
Avant hatchback, but it was the Quattro four-wheel drive that gave it a leg up against the competition. The engine also got a boost, but it still
fell well short of BMW or Mercedes. Ferdinand Piëch, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche,
was a rising talent in Audi, having led the work to design the 5-cylinder engine. But in Audi’s mind it was that 5-cylinder
engine that was holding back Audi’s aspirations to move upmarket. Piëch began work in 1984 designing Audi’s
first V8 engine, and the team quickly honed-in on a 3.6L 32V design that looked suspiciously
like two 1.8L 16V engines from the upcoming Volkswagen Golf GTI smashed together. But Audi’s new V8 would save weight by using
an aluminium block. Inside, Audi wanted the new car, that was
slated to be called the Audi 300 to be the height of luxury. Like the 100 and 200, the 300 would get walnut
inlays in the dashboard, heated, electrically operated seats, a 6-function trip computer,
premium BOSE audio system with 8 speakers, and air conditioning with climate control,
but it would also feature rear heated seats, and a car phone in the centre console! Leather seats came courtesy of British company
Connolly who also made seats for Rolls-Royce, and to make the 300 a safe vehicle, it featured
Audi’s “procon-ten” safety restraint system. Rather than focusing on airbags for passenger
safety, Audi’s safety system used cables to tension the seat belts and pull the steering
wheel away from the driver in the event of a frontal impact. But Audi would hedge their bets a little by
offering a driver’s airbag as standard as well! ABS, and a car that would naturally understeer
rounded out the safety features. Audi also pitched its Quattro four-wheel drive
system as a safety feature, automatically delivering the most power to the wheel with
the most grip. Up until now the Quattro system couldn’t
be married to an automatic gearbox, but by using two self-locking differentials customers
could have the security of all-wheel drive with the convenience of an automatic gearbox. The automatic could be adjusted to give higher
performance or more fuel economy, and the new car, now simply named the “V8” could be
switched between sport, economy and manual modes. Audi would set up a new delivery centre where
customers could take delivery of their new luxury Audi and get a personal tour of the
factory. This also helped the factory get direct feedback
from customers as to their expectations for a luxury car. (music) The V8 went on sale in 1988, and was launched
by Ferdinand Piëch, who was now Audi’s boss. The chassis was identical to the 100 and 200,
albeit with a 15mm (5/8”) longer wheelbase. In fact, Audi had abandoned development of
a V10 version because it simply couldn’t fit into the engine bay. 90% of the body parts were new, although from
the outside it was hard to tell! The body looked almost identical to the new
200, released at the same time. There were some differences – the front
grille and bumper were modified, and the V8 got larger wheelarches due to a wider track
of the wheels, but from the rear, other than the rear light cluster with clever red indicators
that glowed orange, the badge seemed to be the only difference, or rather the lack of
a badge. Inside it was more of the same. Very luxurious, but a spitting image of the
Audi 200. Piëch launched the car with typical German
understatement, but the V8 itself was the epitome of understatement; a car that looked
like Audi had simply fitted a couple of Golf engines to a warmed-over Audi 200 that didn’t
look much different from an Audi 100 launched 6 years earlier. The more people looked at the V8, the less
special it became. Many of these new features were available
on the updated 200, or even on the basic 100, making the V8 hardly the exclusive luxury
model it was portraying itself to be. It wasn’t particularly cheap either. It was a good bit more than a Mercedes 500
SE, about the same as a Jaguar XJ-6 but less than the BMW 735i. But none of them had anything to compete with
Audi’s Quattro system. Despite the high price, Audi lacked the prestige
of BMW, Mercedes, and even Jaguar, and to make matters worse, the competition had moved
on. Audi’s new beast could claim a 0-60 time
under 8 seconds from an almost 250 hp (184 kW) engine, but Mercedes V8, and BMW’s new
top of the line V12 could go faster. All this didn’t help Audi’s goal in conquering
North America. A strong Deutschmark meant cars cost more
there, slowing down sales as Audi was hoping to make further inroads. But US sales had been squashed two years earlier
after reports of unintended acceleration surfaced on the Audi 5000. Road traffic authorities, consumer organisations
and Audi themselves did extensive tests, all proving these reports to be baseless, but
bad news travels faster than good news, and in the public’s mind Audi’s were dangerous. In 1985 they sold 74,000 cars in the USA. By 1987 it was just 41,000. To make matters worse, a favourable Yen meant
Japanese cars were a bargain. Honda would do well selling its version of
the Rover 800, the luxury Acura Legend, and Toyota’s new luxury car, the Lexus would
launch for much less than the Audi V8 in 1990. The Audi 200 ‘s 5-cylinder engine was boosted,
and the following year the 200 Quattro 20V turbocharged model appeared, producing almost
as much power as the V8, and getting to 60 in just 6.6 seconds. Maybe to shake the unintended acceleration
demon from their back, Audi took the 200 racing in the 1988 American Trans-Am Series, winning
at their first attempt. The V8 would go racing in 1990 in the German
DTM Touring Car championship, becoming the first manufacturer to win back-to-back championships
before being roundly beaten by Mercedes in 1992. But domination on the racetrack didn’t translate
into sales. Audi would launch the V8 long wheelbase version
in 1989. This was Audi’s attempt at a pure luxury
limousine, with opulent features for the two rear seat passengers. The wheelbase was extended 32cm or just over
a foot to give ample leg room, and each seat was electronically adjustable. Late 80’s tech features such as a fax machine
and a PC were connected to the built-in car phone and an answering machine, for an equally
fancy price! But it was clear this vehicle was an afterthought;
the rear doors looked oddly short because they were the regular doors from a V8. All these limousine features pushed the price
50% higher than the standard V8, and understandably not many were sold – just 271 to be exact. V8 sales can’t have been helped with a new
Audi 100 appearing in 1990, which instantly made the supposedly superior V8 and 200 look
dated. Audi 200 production ended the following year,
but the V8 would be improved with a larger 4.2L engine, allowing it to finally hold a
torch to BMW & Mercedes’ top-of the line models. Not many customers chose the manual gearbox,
but it was upgraded from a 4-speed to a 5-speed, and eventually a 6-speed in 1993. But this did little to stimulate sales of
a car with an outdated look, especially now the Mercedes S-Class had been updated. V8 production ended in 1994 after selling
less than 22,000 cars, a far cry from the anticipated 14,000 cars Audi had hoped to
sell every year. The V8’s replacement, the A8 and higher
performance S8 would gain market share from not just its German competitors, but American,
British and Japanese rivals. BMW is known for its sporty cars, but Audi
would match BMW’s technical sporting prowess both on and off the racetrack, as well as
their luxury. As for Ferdinand Piëch, his star would continue
to rise. He was made head of parent Volkswagen in 1993,
and he would spearhead another luxury car that failed to meet its sales targets, the
Volkswagen Phaeton with a wilder W12 engine. The Audi V8’s engine would set a pattern
for Audi’s successful large cars in the future – the marrying of two existing reliable
engines into a V or W pattern, and using aluminium for the engine block and cylinder heads. Its customer delivery centre helped them learn
what customers wanted from luxury cars - lessons it would continue to learn from Volkswagen’s
acquisitions of Bentley and Bugatti. It would be easy for Audi to shy away from
producing more luxury models after the tepid reaction to the V8, but Audi doubled down
on development to produce the A8 and S8. This paid dividends not just in adding another
model to their range, but in producing a high-end luxury model that trialled new features that
would trickle down to mass market models, and in advancing the brand image that helped
sell entry level models. The V8 was another step on the road from its
2-stroke Auto Union days to a producer of cutting-edge luxury cars. Instead of bloopers, here’s a few bonus
facts! Audi’s spare parts aren’t exactly cheap,
and the V8 was no exception. A new engine could cost as much as a new Volkswagen
Golf, with the automatic transmission not much behind it on price! One, and only one Avant version of the V8
was ever made – it was donated to Ferdinand Piëch’s wife. The C3 platform used by the 1980s Audi 100
and 200 was also used in China for the 1995 FAW Hongqi CA7200 limousine, presumably that
was Audi getting a second life out of its tooling. Its sister car, the CA7460 was a Lincoln Town
Car, making for a very strange pairing!
