Next-gen 2018 Audi A8 to debut on 11th July

The 4th gen Audi A8 (D5) luxury saloon will debut at the ‘Audi Summit’ in Barcelona, Spain, on the 11th of July. Based on reports, it will publicly premiere in September, at the Frankfurt Motor Show. With regards to the design, it will borrow the rakish and chiseled look of the Audi Prologue Concept series, combined with a larger footprint. The new Audi A8 will be lighter than its forerunner and more compatible with alternative powertrains, due to Audi’s MLB Evo platform. The flagship Audi will be equipped with the most advanced autonomous driving system. However, the full functionality will not be available due to lack of proper legislation allowing highly automated driving.

It will also feature plenty of autonomous features, like an updated version of the Traffic Jam Assist, which works at speeds of up to 60 km/h (37 mph) during heavy traffic conditions, that too, with no input from the driver. It will come with the second generation of the Audi virtual cockpit as well, making it the first Audi car to have it. Features like this show the effort put in by the company to ‘future-proof’ the model.

The 2018 Audi A8 is expected to be installed with various petrol and diesel units, similar to the current model, followed up with a plug-in hybrid model post the official debut. Based on previous reports, it is safe to assume that the car should come with two petrol and three diesel engines. A 565 HP 6.3-liter petrol W12 and a 460 HP 4.0-liter petrol V8 along with a 272 HP 3.0-liter V6 TDI, 500 HP 5.0-liter V10 TDI and a 408 HP 4.0-liter V8 TDI. The A8 is expected to launch in India in late 2018, as a rival to the new BMW 7 series and the Mercedes Benz S-Class.

Source: Carscoops.com