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Fascinating sportiness, innovative technology and superior comfort: Audi is bringing the next generation of the A8 to the starting line. The new flagship demonstrates the brand's clear Vorsprung durch Technik with its light aluminium body, its powerful and highly efficient engines, the improved MMI control system featuring a number of innovations and an elegant interior with a craftsman's level of fit and finis

The A8 also sets new standards of efficiency. The fuel consumption of each of the engines available has been substantially reduced by as much as 22 percent. The 3.0 TDI with front-wheel drive to follow later emits only 159 grams of CO2 per kilometre (255.89 g/mile), and with 6.0 litres of fuel per 100 km (39.20 US mpg), it boasts the best fuel economy in the luxury segment.

"The new Audi A8 is the sportiest sedan in the segment," says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. "It combines numerous functions in a new and intelligent way. And it is unmatched in the stylistic elements and impression of the interior."

The new luxury sedan, to arrive at dealerships in early 2010, is a technical work of art combining sportiness and progressiveness. Its elegant and powerful body is an aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF), weighing about 40 percent less than a comparable steel structure.

The new full LED headlights, which use light emitting diodes for all light functions, are a completely exclusive high-end solution on board the new A8.

They give the luxury sedan an unmistakable appearance even in daylight and even more so after the fall of darkness. The revolutionary optics used in these headlights mean a departure from the tubular light modules commonly used today. The full LED headlights herald a new chapter in the history of lighting technology.

The interior enchants with new, even lighter lines, uncompromising quality of fit and finish and extraordinary attention to the smallest of details. The comfort on board is first class – from new, emotionally charged ambient lighting to the luxurious adjustable rear seats.

The Audi A8 combines a new level of technical intelligence with exemplary and easy operation. When combined with the optional navigation system, its Multi Media Interface MMI includes a pioneering innovation: the MMI touch. This MMI touch system enables the driver to control many functions intuitively; for example, the navigation destination can be entered by tracing the letters on the pad with a finger.

MMI navigation plus is networked in a novel fashion with the advanced driver assistance and safety systems. It reads the road ahead in the navigation data and provides this information to the control units for the automatic transmission, the headlights and the intensely refined Audi adaptive cruise control with stop & go function.

The improved intelligence of these systems allows them to recognise complex scenarios and make anticipatory decisions to support the driver. In many situations, the new Audi pre sense safety system can mitigate accidents and their consequences. Other novel additions are a night vision assistant that highlights detected pedestrians and, coming in the course of 2010, a speed limit indicator.