Local News: Audi A8 enters its next phase

Fascinating sportiness, innovative technology and superior comfort: The new Audi A8 is at the front of the luxury class. The latest Audi flagship demonstrates the brand’s Vorsprung durch Technik with its light aluminum body, its powerful and highly efficient engines, the latest version of the MMI operating system and an elegant interior.

Winner of the “Luxury Cars” category at the “Golden Steering Wheel 2010”, the new Audi A8 also won the “Award for Design Excellence” by the 2010 EyesOnDesign jury at the Detroit Auto Show.

Reinhold Carl, Managing Director of Audi Singapore, says: “The new Audi A8 is the most progressive and sportiest luxury sedan in its class – our latest flagship this year. Discerning drivers will be pleased with the powerful presence that the new Audi A8 commands, as well as with its level of craftsmanship and technological innovation.”

The new LED headlights give the new Audi A8 and A8 L (long wheelbase) an unmistakable appearance in daylight and after nightfall. The revolutionary optics used in these headlights is a departure from the tubular light modules commonly used today.

The Audi flagship combines a new level of technical intelligence with intuitively simple operation. Its multimedia interface (MMI) includes a pioneering innovation: in conjunction with the MMI navigation plus navigation (standard), it has a touchpad. The MMI enables the driver to control many functions intuitively. The navigation destination, for example, can be entered by tracing the letters on the pad with a finger. The MMI navigation plus is also tightly integrated with the assistance and safety systems in the new Audi A8. It reads the road ahead and provides the data to the control units for the automatic transmission, the headlights and the advanced adaptive cruise control with stop & go function.

With their increased intelligence, these systems can recognise complex scenarios and predictively support the driver. The new Audi pre sense safety system can reduce the severity of accidents and their consequences in many cases. In the highest form, it even brakes the A8 autonomously in the event of an impending rear-end collision, applying maximum braking in the last half second. Audi pre sense shaves up to 40 km/h off of the speed before the crash occurs.

With its sporty and progressive nature, the new luxury sedan is a technical work of art. The elegant and distinctive body is an aluminum Audi Space Frame (ASF). It is roughly 40 percent lighter than a comparable steel body while also impressing with high rigidity.

Specifically, the Audi A8 L impresses with a presence of powerful confidence – it is a large, distinguished luxury sedan. Length and wheelbase have both been stretched by 13 centimetres versus the standard version; the A8 L measures 5.27 metres. All of this added length is to the benefit of the rear seat passengers.

The new Audi A8 is available in Singapore with the 3.0 TFSI (290 bhp), 4.2 FSI (372 bhp) and 6.3 FSI (500 bhp) engines. The output and torque of all engines have increased versus the previous model, whilst fuel consumption has decreased considerably: as much as 22 percent thanks to intelligent technologies such as the recuperation system, innovative thermal management for both the engine and transmission, and vastly reduced internal friction.

The standard transmission also plays a large role in the efficiency of the new A8 model series. The extremely convenient 8-speed tiptronic finely graduates its gears while achieving a large overall spread. Its control system is purely electronic, operated with an elegant selector level and rocker switches at the steering wheel. The quattro permanent all-wheel drive has a distinctly sporty and rear-biased character. The optional sport differential dynamically distributes the forces between the rear wheels.

The new Audi A8 offers both luxurious ride comfort and sporty handling. Their wheel control arms – a five-link construction up front and a trapezoidal-link rear suspension – are made of aluminum. The brake discs measure up to 400 millimetres in diameter, depending on the engine. The adaptive air suspension with controlled damping is standard and integrated into the Audi drive select system. Complementing it is the optional dynamic steering with its variable steering ratio.

The new Audi A8 is now available in Singapore with the following variants and prices (inclusive of COE):
A8L 3.0TFSI quattro tiptronic at S$319,888
A8 4.2FSI quattro tiptronic at S$347,888
A8L 4.2FSI quattro tiptronic at S$373,888
A8L6.3FSI quattro tiptronic at S$586,888

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