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Audi A8 Receives Automobile Magazine's All-Stars Award

7 January 1999

Audi A8 Receives Automobile Magazine's All-Stars Award For Best Luxury Sedan For Second Consecutive Year

    DETROIT, Jan. 6 -- Today, Automobile Magazine named the
Audi A8 the Best Luxury Sedan as part of their annual All-Stars Awards.  This
is the second consecutive year that the Audi A8 has received this honor from
Automobile Magazine.  Automobile Magazine's editors chose a total of thirteen
vehicles which they view as the best built, designed, engineered and drivable
vehicles in the marketplace.  The announcement came at the North American
International Auto Show during press week.
    Of particular note is that the Audi A8 is the first and only member of the
premium luxury class to earn the dual five-star rating for both the driver and
the front seat passenger under NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP).
The A8 is Audi's all-aluminum luxury flagship, first introduced to North
America in the Fall of 1996.  The ground-breaking Audi A8 employs a
revolutionary aluminum space frame body technology, the Audi Space Frame
(ASF), created in partnership with aluminum pioneer Alcoa.  The result is a
frame that's 40 percent lighter than traditional steel frames.
    In creating the A8, Audi broke with the paradigm that the only way to get
safer was to get heavier.  Instead, using the ASF technology, Audi achieved
significant weight savings over competitive models while delivering abundant
room and unsurpassed amenities in an elegant automobile that performs like a
sports sedan.
    Available in two V8 equipped versions -- a front-drive A8 3.7 and an
all-wheel drive A8 4.2 quattro -- drivers command up to 300 horsepower and,
because of its light weight, do so without paying the gas guzzler tax.  To
harness this power, a five-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic(R)* is
standard.
    The A8 was the first vehicle in the world with six airbag supplemental
restraints as standard equipment: two next generation airbags for driver and
front passenger protection in the event of a frontal impact; two seat-mounted
side airbags for the driver and front passenger for side-impact protection,
and two more side-impact airbags for the rear occupants.  There is even an
advanced central locking system that will unlock the doors and turn on the
interior lights in the event of an airbag deployment.

    *  TIPTRONIC is a registered trademark of Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG.