Refreshing or Revolting: 2019 Audi A8

The 2019 Audi A8 debuted last week, packing plenty of tech including a mild hybrid system and semi-autonomous driving aids. As with new Audis, the exterior design is evolutionary, not revolutionary, which means it’s conservative yet tasteful. Thankfully, most of the styling cues from the Audi Prologue Concept remains, giving the new A8 a sleeker appearance. Let’s take a look at how the 2019 Audi A8 compares to its predecessor and how its styling differs inside and out.

Up front, the 2019 Audi A8 clearly has a cleaner, wider look thanks to the thin headlight clusters, wider grille, and lower front fascia with more chrome strips that gives it a more planted look. Even with the thinner headlights, the front fascia of the new A8 is a clear evolution of the blockier, less angular front end of its predecessor. Viewing the 2019 A8 from the side is where it starts to differentiate itself from the outgoing model thanks to its lower, more coupe-like roofline. This also makes the new car look longer than the old A8, which has a more upright greenhouse that gives it a more conservative side profile.

Out back, the new 2019 A8 features a new taillight assembly that features an LED light strip that runs across the whole rear end and is accented by a chrome strip to give it more width. The thinner taillights also give the car’s rear end a slimmer appearance compared to the older car, which had wider, more squared off clusters.

Inside is where the focus on high-tech features come in to focus, as the 2019 A8 has many screens including Audi’s slick Virtual Cockpit system. The center stack features a dual-touchscreen layout for the MMI interface and the climate controls, the old car’s button-heavy layout, retractable screen, knobs, and touch pad layout. Audi also added a futuristic two-spoke steering wheel that gives the interior a more modern, distinctive look.

Details on the U.S.-spec 2019 Audi A8 haven’t been released yet, but we can safely assume that the new car will be packing a full suite of self-driving features like the Audi’s new traffic jam pilot system. Powertrain choices should include a 340-hp 3.0-liter turbo V-6 and a 460-hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8.

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