The new 2016 Audi A8 is the first Audi masterminded from bottom to top by the group’s tech chief Ulrich Hackenberg and his new design chief Mark Lichte. The declared goal of both men is to create a stand-out luxury saloon which beats the competition in terms of presence and ability.

Six proposals made it to the finals: two by Fabrizio Giugiaro (who since left ItalDesign together with Alberto Fumagalli), one by Wolfgang Egger (now the leader at Ital), one by Stefan Sielaff (still head of the VW group advanced design studio in Potsdam) and one by inhouse design chief Mark Lichte and his talented sidekick Philipp Roemers.

Sielaff’s car received an honorable mention in the corridors of power at Ingolstadt, but predictably the board put Mark Lichte in charge of the new 2016 Audi A8, codenamed D5. Not to be confused with a woofling, Volvo in-house diesel engine of yore…

Audi A8 (2016): what to expect from Project D5

Although we have yet to see the final version of the new A8, those who regularly attend product strategy committee meetings claim that the new creative director has blended British elegance with Italian sportiness and German solidity. The next A8 will allegedly be a much more progressive car with a smaller singleframe grille, a nicely tapered rear end, a more coupe-like greenhouse and sculptured, almost architectural proportions.

The current A8 looks more like a bloated A6 with jewel headlamps than like a standalone luxury sedan. D5 will not be quite as radical as it could have been, since it sits on Audi’s own PL65 platform instead of the front-mid-engined MSB components set developed by Porsche.

Why the Audi A8 is on a bespoke platform

The fact that PL65 and D5 coexist is the result of managerial blunder, oversight, the not-invented-here syndrome, lack of budget control and the persistence of  one man, Audi’s R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg. When he arrived in Ingolstadt, MSB looked like the winning formula that would have saved the group about €3 billion in direct and indirect expenditure.

But then the team from Ingolstadt insisted going it alone, and after several heated debates they received the thumbs-up in a meeting immediately after the 2014 Geneva motor show. Yes, a union with Porsche would have made more sense. No, it was in the end too late and too expensive to make the required adjustments.

To beef up the volume and to spread cost over three different models, PL65 will also underpin the VW Phaeton Mk2 and the stillborn A9 Coupe is suddenly back, as a sleek and sporty four-door alternative to the very large and quite ostentatious Q8 crossover.

Aluminium construction and engine details: all about the 2016 Audi A8

Project D5 is going to break new ground in more ways than one. It adds more modular construction to the Audi spaceframe (ASF), it introduces fresh content (three levels of autonomous driving, advanced infotainment), it refocuses on driving dynamics (on-demand torque vectoring, re-engineered air suspension, next-generation Drive Select), and it reinvents MMI. The multi-media control system is due to feature a large TFT display, more intuitive ergonomics, voice and gesture control.

Low-friction lightweight quattro all-wheel drive and the eight-speed automatic are standard on all new Audi A8 models. As far hybrids go, the new A8 abandons the breathless four-cylinder in favour of a plug-in application featuring the 326bhp 3.0-litre TFSI V6. Other petrol engines include:

Audi A8 4.0-litre V8 TFSI 460bhp
Audi A8 6.3-litre W12 565bhp.

Diesels in the new 2016 Audi A8 are:

Audi A8 3.0-litre V6 TDI 272bhp
Audi A8 4.0-litre V8 TDI 408bhp
Audi A8 5.0-litre V10 TDI 500bhp