IN TERMS of outright sales, Audi may well be an also-ran within the trio of premium German car brands in Australia. But in western Europe, where the flagship Volkswagen brand actually sells more 12-cylinder vehicles than both Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Audi is very much a major player whose models are highly regarded by luxury car aficionados. Take the A8 W12 sedan, available in Australia for the first time, for example. At a cool $325,000, it’s an accomplished first-class limousine with all the performance, features and quality well heeled customers would expect from the most expensive Audi – plus the kind of exclusivity and value its BMW and Benz rivals cannot offer.