Prologue previews new A6, A7 and A8

Big chunks of the step-change Audi Prologue concept car will make their way into the 2016 A8 limousine, it has been revealed.

The star of the Los Angeles motor show was the first full concept car under the direction of Audi’s new head of design, Marc Lichte, and Audi design boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg confirmed the A8 would be his first production car.

The fifth-generation A8, dubbed D5 in Audi’s internal code, will be designed from the ground up, inside and out, by Lichte’s team.

“Marc’s first job here will be the D5 A8 and the Prologue concept is the basis for that,” Dr Hackenberg admitted in Los Angeles this week.

“The next A6 and A7 will also have this look from the A-pillar forward when they come. This car is the essence of all three cars.

“But the A8, there will be a lot of features from the Prologue. The face and the interior in particular; I’m not a fan of concept cars that are too spectacular, so that’s why you’ll see so much of this design in the new cars.”

The D5 A8 will introduce far more than just a design language, though, with a range of new technologies ranging from a three-dimensional digital instrument cluster to new five-link front and rear suspensions.

The car will also receive four-wheel steering, sources admitted, with up to five degrees of rear steering to give it a turning circle smaller than even the current A3 and only marginally bigger than the new smart forfour.

It will be based on the evolution version of Audi’s MLB (Modular Longitudinal Basis) architecture, which will also underpin next year’s Q7, however, neither Lichte nor Hackenberg’s arrival from Volkswagen happened in time to greatly influence the big SUV.

It also means Audi will splinter the base engineering package for its large cars off from the rest of the premium brands in the Volkswagen Group, which use the MSB architecture developed by Porsche for its next Cayenne and Panamera, as well as the new Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur.

Significantly, one of the ambitions of both Hackenberg and Lichte for the A8, which will debut at next year’s Frankfurt motor show as a “concept” car, is to reduce its front and rear overhangs and lower its bonnet line.

There will be a long-wheelbase model, too, though Audi isn’t keen to follow Mercedes-Benz down the extra-long-wheelbase Maybach path.

Dr Hackenberg admitted that Audi had patented new spring-loading technology to allow the A8 to run a bonnet line almost as low as the Prologue’s sports car-style nose, even with its taller W-layout diesel engines.

“Yes, we can do that in production and still pass all the pedestrian crash laws,” he said. “The bonnet will have a new technology for spring loading which will combine with the pedestrian detection systems.”

It is believed the new car will be available with an all-new petrol V6, a development of the current biturbo 4.0-litreV8, along with an upgraded W12 turbo for the flagship limousine.