LA MOTOR SHOW: New Audi flagship in video tease

Audi has released the first teaser video of the elegant show car that will preview not only its redesigned A8 limousine and the extravagant 'A9' flagship it will spawn, but the German brand's striking new design direction.

Hosted by Audi design director Marc Lichte, the official film provides a brief glimpse of the as-yet-unnamed concept car, which will make its world debut at the Los Angeles motor show on November 18.

Also revealed for the first time are key details including the striking new wheel design, heavily flared wheel-arches and the car's fastback-style silhouette beneath a cover, indicating the earlier overhead image published by Italian website autodesignmagazine.com is indeed authentic.

In the video, Lichte, who became Audi's design director in February, says his vision for Audi's future design language will accentuate the car-maker's trademark quattro technology while being both classic and contemporary.

Lichte says his inspiration for the top-shelf show car included the original A8 limo, which he describes as perfectly proportioned, and the first TT coupe, which re regards as "the essence of Audi".

"As for the future, I'd like the face of Audi to display a more emotional design. The design should be timeless but at the same time very progressive. And I want quattro to be a design element people see in every Audi," he said.

Indeed, the long, sleek liftback or shooting brake appears to blend both seemingly opposing vehicle concepts into one design featuring a rounded roofline, muscular haunches, extremely short overhangs at both ends and a more aggressive take on Audi's signature combined upper/lower grille.

It's still not clear how many doors the concept has, but the A9 is expected to be a five-door 'coupe' version of the next (fourth) generation A8 limousine, in the vein of the smaller A5 and A7 Sportbacks.

Although it's unlikely to enter production before 2017, both the A9 and next year's new A8 will be based on the Volkswagen group's new 'MLB Evo' large-car platform.

At more than five metres in length, the five-door A9 will have no direct competitor from Mercedes-Benz or BMW, whose CLS and 6 Series Gran Coupe models currently compete with the A7.

Like the A8, Audi's all-new range-topper is expected to be offered in S performance guise, but could also form the basis of an RS 9-badged hyper-limo, with an even more powerful version of Audi's 412kW/700Nm twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 driving all four-wheels.

The Mk4 A8 isn't the only significant new model Audi is due to reveal next year, with the second-generation Q7 SUV, second-generation R8 super-coupe and redesigned A4 volume-seller also expected to emerge in 2015.