Festive lighting is all around us, but Audi is flooding its new R8 sports car with LEDs. There's a total of 24 front-mounted LED driving lamps and 186 LED brake lights -- and they'll illuminate the engine too.
Due to be launched by Audi next spring priced from £76,725, the 187mph two-seater is available with an optional interior light package that not only includes LED cabin illumination, but also bathes the engine compartment in LED light, drawing onlookers’ attention to its eight-cylinder unit through its clear glass ‘bonnet’.
On the outside, and said to be inspired by the design of the Sydney Opera House, the R8’s headlamp units incorporate 12 LED daytime running lights on each side combined with bi-xenon dipped and main beam head lights.
Audi UK director Jeremy Hicks said: “The importance of seeing and being seen on the roads is obviously brought into sharp focus at this time of year, and with its new LED technology our new R8 will be pretty hard to beat on both fronts. With the help of Audi innovations such as the quattro four-wheel-drive system we have always strived to deliver high performance as responsibly and safely as possible, and this hugely impressive lighting technology underlines that fact yet again.”
Deposits for the new Audi R8 have been taken by the UK Audi Centre network since its world public debut at the 2006 Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris in late September, and have already accounted for all right-hand-drive production slots allocated through to mid-2008.