Since Mercedes launched the benchmarking S-Class and BMW threw the gauntlet a month back launching the highly advance 7-Series, an empty spot was left to be filled, thou the current A8 is a highly desirable executive, what it makes up for (in the lightweight Aluminium Space Frame and looks) couldn't quite keep up to its competitors in the fact that while the A8 perhaps lack only the kitchen sink, Merc and BMW had two in them, perhaps a fridge and stove as well. Well now at least those waiting for the third to fill up the moniker of German Trio can rest assured as these are the first images of the new Audi A8 that's due to arrive in showrooms by 2010. I'm very happy seeing what I see, first is that there's year 3050 design elements, indicating this is in fact the production version.
First off the design, following what Audi had done to the facelifted A6, the new A8 resembles Audi's good propotions and good looking subtlety with a hint of taut up, sporty appeal to it, sharp creases and a shorter front overhang (mere eye judgement on picture) gave a false impression of the car looking not much bigger than an A6; which for a second I was wondering if this is the replacement for A6 (Of course in true Audi tradition, the numberplate reassures me this is the new A8); speaking of the numberplate, Audis only do so for press release shots, hence I can confidently say that we'll see official images within a week's time. 
Looking into the interior, it seems fitted with a pre-production steering wheel as there's not a single button to be seen here, I'm also very glad that the general layout of the A8's benchmarking interior remains largely similar; the most interest thing is the gearlever which I think would soon be adapted to many other cars. Since the explosion of paddle shifters finding their way from Ferraris to econoboxes, drivers had lesser and lesser interaction with the gearlevers during day to day driving, hence there's no need for a gearlever mimicking the height of a manual shifter for the 'comfortable' height of reach. Now many might start thinking of BMW's previous 7-Series, which omits the gearlever entirely and placing the automatic shifter on the steering column, thou it makes the center console looking cooler, it makes the 'Ultimate Driver' felt like a school van mum shifting gears on the steering column, hence its a lesson well learn and the new 7-Series had its shifters placed back into the center console, relinquishing the Driver's car image. As you can see in the above pictures, the A8 had a low, flat resting gear shifter, which helps to NOT obstruct controls in the center dash which includes the frequently tweaked Audi MMI.Update: Despite rumors of this being a photochop car, we've confirmed this is indeed the new Audi A8 with an insider with only one question and answer. :"Yes, the gearlever is low and flat."
