At its core, Audi is all about progressive luxury — and the A8 is its pinnacle. For the 2015 model year, the flagship gets a refresh inside and out, as well as under the hood.

The Exterior

The 2015 A8 features a refreshed appearance for a wider stance and a more dynamic presence. At the front, the revised appearance is comprised of a new front fascia, including standard new LED headlights, hood, Audi Singleframe grille, bumper, and splitter design. New tail lamp and trapezoidal tailpipe design round out the changes to the rear. The model will feature a new selection of 20″ wheels and five new exterior colors.

The Interior

Inside, the 2015 A8 features significant acoustic measures for a quieter cabin and driving comfort as well as optimized trunk packages for improved space and usability.

Other impressive features continue to include available 22-way front and rear comfort seats with 5 different massage functions, along with heating and ventilation capabilities.

The Tech

Continuing on Audi’s mission to offer technology that improves the driving experience for drivers and passengers alike, the 2015 A8 incorporates several new driver assistance systems, including:

• Active lane assist helps keep the A8 between the lane markings through active steering adjustments should the vehicle drift across the lane markings
• Secondary collision assist automatically applies the brakes following a collision to help avoid possible secondary collisions
• Night vision assistant already offers pedestrian detection. Now animal detection is able to highlight larger animals such as deer and help provide a warning to the driver if the animal is in danger of entering the path of travel
• Head-up display for ease of viewing vehicle speed, navigation, automatic cruise control, Active lane assist and Night vision warning information projected onto windscreen
• Audi park assist (late availability) helps steer the car into a parking space

These new driver assistance system join the Audi Side Assist (blind spot) system as well as the Audi MMI navigation plus system that includes Google Earth mapping, Google Voice local search functionality, and a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to eight devices.

The Performance

The 3.0-liter V6 TFSI (supercharged) motor continues as the entry into the A8 range, the 4.0-liter V8 (turbocharged) represents the mid-range, while the range-topping powerplant is the 6.3-liter W12 engine. For the 2015 model year, the 4.0T V8 grows in power from 420hp to 435hp, and the W12 6.3 liter now features Cylinder On Demand technology.

The revised 2015 Audi A8 (and its high-performance S8 variant) will arrive in the U.S. in the summer of 2014. Here’s to continued success of the four-ringed flagship.