Q here for coupe-suvs
Audi’s new Suv-cumcoupe actually makes a lot of sense as a premium passenger vehicle, writes Richard Bosselman.
Remember the BMW X6 and remember how, when it showed up 10 years ago, we scornfully predicted a coupe-styled sports utility would fail miserably?
Remember, erm, how wrong we were.
Having seen Munich’s weirdo run into a second generation (with a third due next year) and claim 500,000 global sales, Audi has followed Mercedes-benz in creating a foil.
Ingolstadt’s offer isn’t quite the same as an X6 and Benz GLE coupe in that it scores positively by avoiding the full hunch-backed coupe look.
It’s also not as niche. Luxury SUVS are hot.
With Q8, Audi New Zealand won’t be surprised for its crossover volume snaring 60 per cent of total brand sales.
And, even though it doesn’t really want that penetration to increase, chances are that with other crossovers coming, it will.
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Calling the Q8 a five-seater coupe version of the Q7 is technically accurate, yet it doesn’t really paint the full picture.
This is a less practical, more affluent-looking five-chair alternative, loaded with gizmoes and wrapped up in a fantastic design. The numerical designation shows it’s on the top rung, yet home office determination to keep the A8 as the ultimate technology leader means Q8 is less fulsomely equipped than the large limo.
Not too different from the concept presented to the world just 18 months ago, at 4.9 metres long, with a 2.9m wheelbase, and just 5mm short of being 2m wide, it’s a big sucker. Alongside Q7, it is a bit lower and 66mm shorter and 27mm wider. The smallest wheels are large 20-inchers with 21s and 22s as $4000 plus options. Overall, it’s exuding real presence.
Audi loves linking its new product back to the eponymous Ur Quattro coupe of the 1980s that put this brand on the world map through rallying. Blistered wheel arches, some character lines and the redfringed black element that links the rear lights are ties to the legend.
It’s not all looking back. That bold front is a first look at the new Q car face.
Though not the absolute technology flagbearer, Q8 nonetheless delivers a crossover/ SUV illumination feature first, with