By Dave Abrahams
Ingolstadt, Germany - The usual puns aside, this stretched A8, built by Audi's custom division for an unnamed European customer, shows the lengths to which the Fellowship of the Four Rings will for a customer.
Because it's good business: no sooner had the world got out that Audi had taken on this project than it began receiving politely worded requests for 'one just like it'.
The Audi XXL is 6.36 metres long on a 4.22 metre wheelbase (that's 1.09 metre longer than the long-wheelbase A8 L) and seats six cosseted occupants, all facing forward in individual business-class seats, in three rows of two.
It took almost a year to develop and build the unique bodyshell to the same safety standards as the production A8 L, extending the side sills and centre tunnel of the original aluminium space-frame with extruded aluminium sections - which are also used as ducting for the custom-built climate control system.
There's also a double rear bulkhead between the cabin and the boot, as well as more profiled aluminium tubes and cross-bracing in the roof, to provide almost the same level of torsional rigidity as the parent model.
To avoid a typical flat-topped 'stretch limo' look, the stylists reworked the whole body from the A-pillars back, giving it a sleeker version of the signature Audi profile. And then they embedded a 2.4 metre glass panel in the roof skin, with an individual sun-blind for each row of seats.
The six individual seats, trimmed in butter-soft velvet beige Valcona leather are electrically adjustable; the third row has a full-length centre console, housing a cooler box, and its own infotainment display.
The one-off A8 XXL has a three-litre TFSI petrol V6 rated at 228kW and 440Nm, and will accelerate to 100km/h from a standstill in 7.1 seconds, despite a kerb weight of 2418kg, with an electronically governed top speed of 250km/h. To haul down that weight, it's fitted with the braking system of the S8 performance sedan, behind specially made 19 inch rims with a 15-spoked design.