SPIED + TEASED! Audi LOVES Making Us SQUIRM

Here we go again. It looks like Audi is embracing "the slow reveal," a marketing ploy abused throughout 2011 and 2012.

As the name suggests, "the slow reveal" is simply an manufacturer of a product teasing or showing just a tiny bit of the final product to get you all riled up. In some cases it's been a wheel and tire, in others a fender and in this case it's clearly the Audi S8's wheel and MASSIVE carbon ceramic big brake kit.

In the context of an Audi A8/S8 revision, this really isn't showing is anything as we're expecting to see changes on its front headlights and rear taillights over anything else.

But thanks to details in the videos, it's clear we now have something to look forward to come August 21. That's when Audi is saying it will unveil the new car(s).

**To see a collection of the BEST spy photos, click "Read Article"

With the Frankfurt Auto Show still a few days away, we decided to give you a sneak peek at one of the cars we're going to show you there. Can you guess what it is?

Read Article

Autopinion - 7/31/2013 11:18:32 PM

+3 Boost

Typo above fixed...

Yawn. I'm a huge Audi fan but a minor facelift should not be getting anywhere near this coverage! When will we see a mule or camouflaged next gen A4 or TT, which are supposed to be released in late 2014? To Audi's credit, they are working the press, diluting coverage of the new Mercedes S Class... But get real, even when Audi releases an entirely new model the evolutionary changes are so minor they barely excite - - I'm totally bored with camo images of the minimally tweaked A8. No more pics or headlines PLEASE.

cidflekken - 8/1/2013 4:31:22 AM

+1 Boost

Nah, they are not taking anything away from the S-Class. The S-Class gets more coverage and fireworks than probably any other luxury car, regardless of anyone else trying to steal the headlines. The fact is, the S-Class is probably the most reveled car in the class. If anything, Audi might be diluting its own A8 introduction by timing it against the S-Class. Or it's using the tremendous press of the S-Class to draw immediate comparisons to its new A8, garnering a wider audience.

Satriani1 - 8/1/2013 4:53:16 AM

-1 Boost

If you can't afford to buy an Audi A8 or Mercedes S-Class then... then who cares what you think?

Ultimately what matters is what prospective buyers of these upper class luxury cars think -- and Audi is just being smart by reminding them that the A8's response to the S-Class will be revealed on August 21.

After all, the German car mags consistently ranked the Audi A8 ahead of the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series in their 2010 and 2011 comparison tests -- soon after this generation A8 was first introduced. [After the S-Class lost those German car mag comparos, Mercedes USA refused to supply test S-Class sedans for American car mag comparos in 2011, claiming that the S-class was going to be replaced... in 2011! So Mercedes USA cowardly ducked these comparison tests to avoid diluting perception of the S-Class being inferior to the A8. E.g., in an April 2011 comparo, Car and Driver mag said: "Mercedes-Benz ought to be here with its S-class, long the preferred shipping container for dictators and divas alike. But the current model is counting down the months to retirement, and the new one isn’t ready for C/D comparison testing, so the company requested that we proceed without it." That was over two years before the new S-Class was introduced!
http://tinyurl.com/87x9uxm

Thus Audi has earned the right to remind the market to keep the A8 in mind. At least Audi has the guts to stand up and offer its A8 to be counted and compared.

In any case, you're jumping to conclusions without knowing what's in Audi's facelift of the A8 -- you really do not know for sure that this is just a "minor facelift"... even if you keep claiming to be a "huge Audi fan".

Satriani1 - 8/1/2013 4:57:31 AM

-1 Boost

Auto Motor und Sport mag on the Audi A8 facelift. The A8 is the biggest selling brand in the upper class luxury segment in Germany in the first six months of this year, so many people would be interested in its facelift.
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/erlkoenig-audi-a8-2014-facelift-modell-frisch-erwischt-6920810.html

Satriani1 - 8/1/2013 5:50:29 AM

0 Boost

Here are clearer pics of the new headlights on the camouflaged A8 seen testing in India.

http://tinyurl.com/kx2urwp

http://tinyurl.com/lq6m6bc

http://tinyurl.com/o7k3tba

GreenMachine - 8/1/2013 5:19:07 PM

+1 Boost

lol... any amount of facelift won't save this - what's essentially a stretched audi a4. if A8's boring styling didn't inspire when it first came out, it won't now.

Satriani1 - 8/2/2013 7:40:24 AM

-1 Boost

Only an ignorant person would claim that the A8's styling didn't inspire anyone when it first came out.
- Who knows more about the German cars than the Germans themselves? In Germany, more Audi A8 cars (1,676) were sold than Mercedes S-Class (1,381) or BMW 7 Series (1,661) in the first half of 2013. Furthermore, Audi sold, overall, more cars in Germany than Mercedes and BMW.
http://tinyurl.com/mrfaequ
- In 2011, the Audi A8 was runner up for World Car of the Year award.
- When the Audi A8 came out four years ago, all the major German car mag tests rated the A8 the best in its class/pack ahead of the S-Class and BMW 7 Series in their 2010 and 2011 tests.
http://tinyurl.com/jwo6l6s
http://tinyurl.com/23fznmj

It really does not matter what some people who cannot afford these expensive cars think of the Audi A8.

What's ultimately important are the perceotions of people who can afford these cars and who can afford to fly first class and business class -- what they think of these cars. These people would be interested to see what Audi's response to the new S-Class will be in the facelifted A8.