Injecting more performance
Three months ago, Audi was still denying the existence of a Q8 SUV — and now it has two of them.
The hybrid-powered star of the Geneva motor show follows up the Q8 concept from January’s Detroit show and pulls its technology into an impressively practical, tantalisingly close concept car.
The 5,020mm-long Q8 Sport is a blatant preview of Audi’s impending Q8 five-door, fullsized SUV — and so is its plug-in hybrid powertrain.
Boasting up to 1,200km of range, the 350kW powertrain is claimed to be able to push the concept to 100km/h in an impressively brief 4.7 seconds.
The Q8 will use this powertrain, which combines an 85l fuel tank and a relatively tiny 0.9kWh lithium-ion battery, as its flagship model when it reaches production in 2018.
The concept car for Geneva was expected to be called the RS Q8 but Audi changed its mind at the last minute and even the production versions will be badged SQ8.
The petrol-electric powertrain is definitely also on its way into future versions of the lower-riding A6, A7, A8, plus the Q7 and the production Q8.
“The combination of mild hybrid technology and combustion engines sets a new benchmark,” Audi chairman Rupert Stadler says.
The internal combustion part of the hybrid powertrain is a twin-turbo, direct injection 3.0l, all-alloy V6 motor.
Audi has plucked some of the best technology from the SQ7’s stunningly good 4.0l TDI V8, including its 48V electrical system and its electric compressor. As in the SQ7, the Q8 Sport’s compressor can spin at up to 70,000 and is used to force air through the engine at low engine speeds and to cover off any possible turbo lag from the V6. That helps the V6 to punch out 331kW of power and 530Nm of torque. It’s mated to a discshaped 20kW/170Nm electric motor mounted inside the eightspeed automatic transmission, giving a total system output of 350kW and 700Nm.
The 48V system is needed to drive the Integrated Starter Generator, which regenerates the energy to quickly reload the 0.9kWh lithium-ion battery so it can spin the compressor again.
There isn’t a lot of electricity storage, yet Audi insists it will allow the two-tonne plus SUV to stand down the V6 in stop-start traffic situations.