World premiere of the new Audi A8 (Breaking News!)

[Wong Ju Ming]

You heard it here at Audi Club (Singapore) firsthand - Before AudiWorld or Fourtitude!






Art of Progress: World premiere of the new Audi A8


New Audi A8 to be unveiled on the eve of Design Miami
Exhibition with Tom Dixon and the Rubell Family Collection



The 100th anniversary year of the Audi brand is set to culminate with a very special occasion. November 30 sees the world premiere of the new Audi A8 – in the extraordinary setting of Miami. Here the brand’s new flagship will be presented in a truly innovative way in the Audi Pavilion, a temporary museum structure. It is to be the focal point of the vernissage “The Art of Progress,” which exhibits cultural and technological progress and echoes the values of the new A8: Vorsprung durch Technik and design expertise that stirs the emotions.


Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, commented on the exhibition concept: “Our claim “Vorsprung durch Technik” also embraces design, which is one of the outstanding elements of the Audi signature. And as top design has now emerged as an acknowledged art form, we see the bridge between art and architecture as a logical step in advancing our brand.”


Miami has long since emerged as the worldwide capital of art and design. With the two high-profile fairs Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach, early December is traditionally the highpoint of the season for all art and design aficionados. On the eve of Design Miami the world premiere of the new Audi A8 will be held in this very beautiful setting.


Audi is celebrating the world premiere in unconventional style with a vernissage, which symbolizes the cultural and technological progress embodied in the Audi A8 with its history, its engineering and its emotion-packed design.


Inspired by the guiding principle “The Art of Progress,” the Audi flagship is due to be unveiled in the Audi Pavilion amidst selected art works from the new exhibition “Beg Borrow and Steal,” which belongs to the Rubell Family Collection, one of the world’s most important art collections, and the installation “The Light Light” – consisting of aluminum and LED light – by the British top designer Tom Dixon.


These three areas are linked thematically in the Audi Pavilion. They have in common an innovative and progressive nature and the courage to create new things, and are thus elegantly interlinked with each other in the exhibition.


“Artists, designers and engineers have one passion in common, which becomes evident in the “The Art of Progress” vernissage,” emphasizes Stefan Sielaff, Head of Design at AUDI AG: “And that is the handling of form, function, color and material. To what extent the result is art is decided by the claim behind it, but also by the observer.”


Through December 5 the vernissage in the Audi Pavilion is a satellite of Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach, and is open daily to visitors from all over the world to Design Miami and Art Basel.


Furthermore, this year Audi is acting as a designer among designers at Design Miami, where it will also be possible to see the new Audi A8. In the Audi Lounge, the brand’s flagship will be presented as a world premiere in an innovative setting to visitors to Art Basel Miami Beach and Design Miami. This year Audi is the exclusive automotive sponsor both of Design Miami and of Art Basel Miami Beach.


Audi Pavilion
45th & Collins Avenue (east of the large parking lot)
Miami Beach
Opening times:
December 2 through 5, 2009
Open daily from 12 noon through 8 p.m.


Audi Lounge at Design Miami
Design Miami Temporary Structure
NE 39th Street and 1st Court
Miami Design District
Opening times:
December 2 through 5, 2009
Open daily from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m.




Audi Club (Singapore) Exclusive Content




Pictures Show:

The brand's new flagship will be presented in "The Art of Progress" exhibition at the Audi Pavilion on Miami Beach.

&

The new Audi A8 will be presented as a world premiere at Design Miami in an innovative setting to visitors.

[Wong Ju Ming]

Full pictures & details of the flagship new A8 will follow when released

Meantime here is an Official Audi AG supplied teaser picture of the new flagship A8 under wraps with the Director of technical Development standing next to the car.

[Arthur Lim]

I think its about time as design wise (not just the DRLs), the A8 doesn;t seem to have kept up with the times. Hopefully the new model can give the 7 series and S class a better run for the money.

[Wong Ju Ming]

Auto Bild Germany has the first pictures of the new A8!

here it is:

[James Wong]

I think its about time as design wise (not just the DRLs), the A8 doesn;t seem to have kept up with the times. Hopefully the new model can give the 7 series and S class a better run for the money.

Actually I think the A8 has one of the most clean lines of all the German saloons, and before Audi introduced its shield grille to the A8, the A8 was an almost perfect design. With the trademark "big mouth" the A8 now has lost some of its design flair. Nonetheless look at it from every angle, there is no ugly one. Can't say the same for the 7er or the S.

What I am more interested in is the drivetrain. Will Audi adopt turbocharging? Will there be S-Tronic involved? Exciting! :)

Auto Bild Germany has the first pictures of the new A8!

here it is:

That photo was shown a loooong time ago and if that's how the new A8 is going to look, then a thumbs down from me.

Nothing's changed!

[Steven Gan]

Yeah, 7-series is damn ugly from every angle especially the facelift one. Worst of all.

The biggest problem for the S-class is the thick wheel arc made the wheel too small.

So far so good for Audi. Let's wait and see.

Auto Bild Germany has the first pictures of the new A8!

here it is:

The grill is big for the new A8 from the pic. But let wait to see the actual car.

The pic of A6 in the background not nice too.

[Arthur Lim]

Actually I think the A8 has one of the most clean lines of all the German saloons, and before Audi introduced its shield grille to the A8, the A8 was an almost perfect design. With the trademark "big mouth" the A8 now has lost some of its design flair. Nonetheless look at it from every angle, there is no ugly one. Can't say the same for the 7er or the S.

What I am more interested in is the drivetrain. Will Audi adopt turbocharging? Will there be S-Tronic involved? Exciting! :)



That photo was shown a loooong time ago and if that's how the new A8 is going to look, then a thumbs down from me.

Nothing's changed!

Well.... looks being very subjective, its really hard to say one is nicer than the other etc. I just feel the A8 design is outdated not just against the S-Class and 7 series but the rest of the Audi range and that's what I mean perhaps that it needs to be updated and again, not just DRL. I do like the big mouth grille and that's what's attracted me to the A6 actually from a design pov.

I think also, what Audi has not been able to do is to penetrate the buying ladder of the typical customer in this class. When one thinks of the large luxury saloon, one think S-Class and 7 Series and even sometimes and much less, the LS 460. Audi A8 is very seldom in this cognitive select. Design will help a bit but I think this is where their marketing engine needs to improve a lot more. They have done well in the A3-A6,TT range but to me, they are sorely getting their a$$es beat in this segment consistently. Its a great car but only if the customer thinks it is as well and this is where, if the volume and margins justify, marketing direct and indirect can help spread the gospel so to speak but they need really to step up their marketing game in this segment which clearly needs to separate and distinct strategy from the other ranges.

Today's 7 series programme is a great consolidation tactic.

[James Wong]

Well.... looks being very subjective, its really hard to say one is nicer than the other etc. I just feel the A8 design is outdated not just against the S-Class and 7 series but the rest of the Audi range and that's what I mean perhaps that it needs to be updated and again, not just DRL. I do like the big mouth grille and that's what's attracted me to the A6 actually from a design pov.

I think also, what Audi has not been able to do is to penetrate the buying ladder of the typical customer in this class. When one thinks of the large luxury saloon, one think S-Class and 7 Series and even sometimes and much less, the LS 460. Audi A8 is very seldom in this cognitive select. Design will help a bit but I think this is where their marketing engine needs to improve a lot more. They have done well in the A3-A6,TT range but to me, they are sorely getting their a$$es beat in this segment consistently. Its a great car but only if the customer thinks it is as well and this is where, if the volume and margins justify, marketing direct and indirect can help spread the gospel so to speak but they need really to step up their marketing game in this segment which clearly needs to separate and distinct strategy from the other ranges.

Today's 7 series programme is a great consolidation tactic.

Agreed and the A8 was once grossly overpriced until recently where it's very competitive. Like you can get a A8 4.2 for about the same money as a S350! At least for the newer A8s, GPS, Bluetooth and rear seat entertainment come as standard where it wasn't before on the V8. And these as standard items are actually quite rare in the segment where people just want big cars but none of the frills.

Actually, I've been seeing a fair number of A8s on the roads... Small though its number may be, I think it's doing better than the Jag XJ at least! ;)