carguyrob

Does Audi follow a standard product lifecycle for their MMC (mid model changes) and complete model redesigns? A lot of automakers go 5 years between redesigns and do their MMC at the beginning of the 4th model year.

LeadToRome

It's not quite that simple with the S4, go up near the top of the page and click forums, then model discussion, then S4 and you can see the years the various S4's came out, including a long gap around '95-'00.

carguyrob

Does Audi frequently do mid-model updates/changes?

Bada Bing

Audi, as well as BMW and MB, tend to follow a 7-year cycle between complete redesigns for their mainstream models (A4, A6, A8, etc.). The facelift occurs at the midway point, after 4 years. For the current B8 A4 which came out in the U.S. as a 2009 model, I would expect a facelift for the 2013 model and a complete redesign for the 2016 model. I expect the S4 to get the same cosmetic updates as the A4 for the 2013 model year.

Keep in mind that there is nothing "standard" about Audi's introductions or facelifts when it comes to S models. They used to introduce them midway through the 7-year cycle but they are beginning to introduce the S models earlier in the model life cycle now (e.g. second year for the B8 S4). For example, on the C6 A6 platform, the S6 model came out as a 2007 model, 2 full years after the 2005 A6 debuted, while the D3 S8 (2007 model year) came out a full 3 years after the D3 A8 came out as a 2004 model.