Audi has unveiled quite a number of SUV concepts over the past few months. And they all look more or less the same, built atop the same platform, and feature some kind of electrification - be it a plug-in hybrid that mates internal combustion with zero emissions propulsion or a fully electric battery-powered drivetrain.
Now that Audi has unveiled the Q8 Concept and has pretty much confirmed it to be a future production model - a sleeker, more desirable, and slightly more driver-focused sibling to the Q7 - their intentions were pretty plainly visible when Q8 Sport Concept appeared a couple of months after: a sportier and more powerful version of the production Q8 that would soon spawn an SQ8.
The Ingolstadt-based automaker had cleverly decided to take a more conservative approach to giving a would-be Q8 and SQ8 a more coupe-like body, one that doesn’t seem to compromise headroom in the same brazen way BMW’s X6 - or the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe - does.
Both SUVs, despite being peddled as concept cars, looked uncannily complete, like Audi chose to unveil them having already been green lit for a showroom debut and with their development work around 60 percent in the bag.
Recently, photo sleuths doing Autocar’s bidding have snapped shots of a heavily camouflaged test mule that’s unmistakably the same car they premiered at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, seen roaming public roads replete with its more aggressive body panels and hunkered down stance.
The report also says that we’ll be treated to some unique wheel designs and some rather serious performance credentials that also stay faithful to the powertrain Audi teased as being under the bonnet of said concept car.
Again, it seemed too well-fitting and plausible at the time to be anything but an in-progress new car project within Audi. Basically, it’s a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 petrol engine that produces 333kW on its own, augmented by a 20kWh electric motor that amplifies total system output to 350kW and 700Nm.
However, if Audi leaves these figures mostly untouched, it will be further outgunned by the BMW X6 M, which already produces 422kW and 750Nm from its 4.4-litre bi-turbo V8 and is due for a generational update where engine output will surely be increased further still.
That said, sheer brute force probably isn’t Audi’s play here. Instead, they might be counting on the overall capability of the SQ8 to deliver on technology, performance, and efficiency in order to win the day - a message both Audi and their parent company Volkswagen, along with fellow subsidiary Porsche, no doubt intends to maintain the medium term.
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