Audi has officially revealed the fourth gen A8 and A8 L luxury sedan. The new Audi A8 will go on sale in October this year. Expect the new A8 to come to India sometime in 2018.

New Audi A8 Exterior

The new Audi A8 is based on the MLB platform. On the exterior, the new car features HD Matrix LED headlights with Audi laser lighting, and the LED light strip combined with OLED technology rear lights. The front grille is also redesigned. Design cues for the new A8 are taken from the Audi Prologue concept car. The standard wheel base car measures 5.17 meters while the L variant has a 5.1 inch longer wheelbase. The new A8 uses 58 percent aluminium in its construction. 

New Audi A8 Interior

The interior features a reworked MMI infotainment system with a 10. 1 inch touch screen in the centre. There is an the optional relaxation seat in the A8 L that comes with four different adjustment options and a footrest. In this seat, the passenger can warm and massage the soles of their feet on a unit with multiple settings incorporated into the back of the front-passenger seat. The new comfort head restraints complete the experience. The rear passengers can also control an array of functions such as ambient lighting, the new HD Matrix reading lights and seat massage, plus make private phone calls, via a separate operating unit. The rear seat remote, with its OLED display as large as a smartphone, is a removable unit housed in the center armrest. The new A8 is the first production automobile to have been developed specially for highly automated driving. The Audi AI traffic jam pilot takes charge of driving in slow-moving traffic at up to 60 km/h (37.3 mph) on freeways and highways where a physical barrier separates the two carriageways. The system is activated using the AI button on the center console. The traffic jam pilot manages starting, accelerating, steering and braking. The driver no longer needs to monitor the car permanently. They can take their hands off the steering wheel permanently and, depending on the national laws, focus on a different activity that is supported by the car, such as watching the on-board TV. As soon as the system reaches its limits, it calls on the driver to take back control of the task of driving.

The Audi AI remote parking pilot and the Audi AI remote garage pilot autonomously steer the A8 into and out of a parking space or a garage, while the maneuver is monitored by the driver. The driver need not be sitting in the car. They start the appropriate system from their smartphone using the new myAudi app. To monitor the parking maneuver, they hold the Audi AI button pressed to watch a live display from the car’s 360 degree cameras on their device.

New Audi A8 Engines

Engine options at launch include a 3.0-litre petrol V6 motor developing 340 hp in the 3.0 TFSI and the other is a 3.0-litre diesel putting out 286 horsepower. Two eight-cylinder engines – a 4.0 TDI with 435 horsepower and a 4.0 TFSI with 460 horses will come later. Topping the range will be a 6.0 litre W12 petrol engine developing 593 horses. The new Audi A8 L e-tron quattro with its powerful plug-in hybrid drive is also on the cards.