The Audi S8 quattro is a high-performance version of the German luxury automaker Audi's flagship car, the full-size Audi A8. The S8 is produced at Audi's Neckarsulm 'aluminium plant', and it was introduced in September 1996, two years after the first-generation A8 was first sold in the European market. Like the A8, the S8 is only available as a four-door saloon/sedan, and both generations have been constructed from an all-aluminium monocoque, dubbed the "Audi Space Frame" (ASF), the S8 using the standard wheelbase platform, and is not available in the long-wheelbase of the A8L.
The S8, like all Audi "S" models, is fitted as standard with Audi's trademark quattro four-wheel drive (4WD), with the S8 using the Torsen-based permanent 4WD system.
