New Audi flagship SUV to take on the Range Rover and inject coupe style at the top end of the firm's line-up
Audi has teased its upcoming, flagship Q8 SUV, officially hinting at the design of the production version of its Range Rover rival for the first time.
The teaser images and short clip issued by Audi merely hint at the lines of its coupe-inspired, range-topping offering rather than delivering a juicy glimpse, though with teasers now arriving it's strongly implied that we'll get to see the car soon, with a reveal likely to take place this summer.
Brightening the teaser shots serves up a grainy look at the all-new model, though spy shots are more revealing still - our spy photographers caught the car virtually undisguised in Spain at the start of the year.
Unsurprisingly, the finished product strikes an admirable resemblence to the Q8 Concept revealed at the Detroit Motor Show
this time last year. The front end is straight from Audi's latest
catalogue, with a lower, wider grille and thinner headlights compared to
the older design on the Q7. The strong shoulder line at the rear is
similar to that of the Bentley Bentayga, while the shape of the sporty, pinched rear end isn't too far away from the Lamborghini Urus.
It will be built alongside the Q7 at Audi's Bratislava plant in Slovakia. It will also have roughly the same footprint as its stablemate – giving it a wheelbase of three metres and a total length of over five, however, it is expected to be 40mm closer to the ground. To handle the luggage of its occupants, the Q8 has a 630-litre boot, which if benchmarked against the Range Rover’s may appear a little small, as it is 279-litres short.
The tapered rear end and sloping roofline on the concept resulted in a four seat layout, but an extra seat will join the rear of the production version before first deliveries are taken in 2018.
Also included on the concept was an e-tron plug-in hybrid powertrain, which uses a 3.0-litre TFSI engine teamed with an electric motor and 17.9kWh lithium-ion battery pack. All this results in an claimed output of 438bhp and 700Nm of torque.
Audi states a 0-62mph time of 5.4 seconds and the car has a top speed of 155mph, while it emits 53g/km of CO2. Power is delivered via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and quattro four-wheel drive.
There’s a good chance the petrol-electric powertrain will be made available in the production model, because Audi says: “Their use in the study demonstrates their importance once again.” On electric power alone, the Q8 concept can travel up to 37 miles, and the lithium-ion battery takes two and a half hours to fully recharge.
Those wanting more performance will eventually be able to upgrade to an Audi SQ8. The high performance model is likely to use the same 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 diesel as the SQ7, developing 429bhp. When asked about the SQ8 in Detroit last year, Audi’s board member for sales and marketing, Dietmar Voggenreiter said, “That’s something I would like to do.”
The concept adopts a wider version of Audi’s single-frame octagonal grille, which is flanked by new matrix LED headlamps. The Q8 concept rides on 23-inch alloy wheels and has carbon-ceramic brakes.
At the back, the LED lights stretch across the width of the concept; Audi says this will be a signature on future e-tron models. Inside, the brand has kitted out the Q8 concept with a new wraparound dash and a raft of new tech.
According to official details, Audi’s 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit display offers more functionality and a higher resolution. A new ‘control and display concept’ replaces a host of buttons with digital touchscreens on the dashboard and centre console
The teaser images and short clip issued by Audi merely hint at the lines of its coupe-inspired, range-topping offering rather than delivering a juicy glimpse, though with teasers now arriving it's strongly implied that we'll get to see the car soon, with a reveal likely to take place this summer.
Brightening the teaser shots serves up a grainy look at the all-new model, though spy shots are more revealing still - our spy photographers caught the car virtually undisguised in Spain at the start of the year.
It will be built alongside the Q7 at Audi's Bratislava plant in Slovakia. It will also have roughly the same footprint as its stablemate – giving it a wheelbase of three metres and a total length of over five, however, it is expected to be 40mm closer to the ground. To handle the luggage of its occupants, the Q8 has a 630-litre boot, which if benchmarked against the Range Rover’s may appear a little small, as it is 279-litres short.
The tapered rear end and sloping roofline on the concept resulted in a four seat layout, but an extra seat will join the rear of the production version before first deliveries are taken in 2018.
Also included on the concept was an e-tron plug-in hybrid powertrain, which uses a 3.0-litre TFSI engine teamed with an electric motor and 17.9kWh lithium-ion battery pack. All this results in an claimed output of 438bhp and 700Nm of torque.
Audi states a 0-62mph time of 5.4 seconds and the car has a top speed of 155mph, while it emits 53g/km of CO2. Power is delivered via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and quattro four-wheel drive.
There’s a good chance the petrol-electric powertrain will be made available in the production model, because Audi says: “Their use in the study demonstrates their importance once again.” On electric power alone, the Q8 concept can travel up to 37 miles, and the lithium-ion battery takes two and a half hours to fully recharge.
Those wanting more performance will eventually be able to upgrade to an Audi SQ8. The high performance model is likely to use the same 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 diesel as the SQ7, developing 429bhp. When asked about the SQ8 in Detroit last year, Audi’s board member for sales and marketing, Dietmar Voggenreiter said, “That’s something I would like to do.”
The concept adopts a wider version of Audi’s single-frame octagonal grille, which is flanked by new matrix LED headlamps. The Q8 concept rides on 23-inch alloy wheels and has carbon-ceramic brakes.
At the back, the LED lights stretch across the width of the concept; Audi says this will be a signature on future e-tron models. Inside, the brand has kitted out the Q8 concept with a new wraparound dash and a raft of new tech.
According to official details, Audi’s 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit display offers more functionality and a higher resolution. A new ‘control and display concept’ replaces a host of buttons with digital touchscreens on the dashboard and centre console
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