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Featured car - Geneva 2012: the new Audi A3
Geneva 2012: the new Audi A3
Svelte new hatchback packs A8 limo technology
Geneva 2012: the new Audi A3Latest news
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New Audi A7 Sportback revealed
Audi takes the wraps off its swoopy four-door four-seat A7 to rival the Merc CLS
Read about the new Audi A7 Sportback -
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Eastern promise
Citroen reveals massive luxury limo concept to impress the Chinese. It’s a hybrid, naturally…
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Underneath the shared face, however, the two cars are quite different. Like the last A8 and the one before, this model has an aluminium space frame. Back in 1994 it became the first luxury car to be made of the stuff, and it's a technique Jaguar copied with the XJ. The fact that the new A8 is just 6.5kg lighter than the outgoing car is no underachievement - it's 24 per cent stiffer, packs more kit than ever and you'd have to make it from tin foil to go much lighter.
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While it may not be the automatic choice for gangsters and pinstriped execs, the A8 has always held a quiet superiority over other luxo-barges. It's big and fast, yet understated and cool, and never feels in-yer-face. So under the disco lights and smokescreens at the launch of the new car in Miami, we wondered if it would retain that modesty.
As the stage doors opened and the assembled glitterati drew breath, the car rolled out. And when the smoke cleared... it looked like they'd sent out the wrong one. Up there under the spotlight, it looked freakishly similar to the A4. Despite being bigger than ever, now the biggest in its class, you could easily mistake it for the smaller sibling. It seems the Audi gene pool has shrunk and the family resemblance is unavoidable. -
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New Audi A8: first look
We’ve got the first glimpses of Audi’s new exec express. It could be surprisingly handsome
Read more about the Audi -
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