You know who I feel bad for? The luxury SUV shopper.
The market is lousy with well-designed, upscale suburban people movers. With every aspirational automaker — from Rolls-Royce to Lamborghini to Bentley — offering up their own version, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Essentially, it’s how Marge and Homer felt that time they visited Springfield’s massive new supermarket, Monstromart, “where shopping is a baffling ordeal.”
Well, prepare for things to get more baffling. Today Audi unveiled the 2019 Audi Q8, the automaker’s new flagship SUV. The brand says it combines the “elegance of a four-door luxury coupe with the practical versatility of a large SUV.” On the luxury SUV totem pole, it’s certainly up there.
The two-row Q8 is wider, shorter, and lower than Audi’s Q7, which it’s based on. This gives the vehicle much sportier proportions — check the sharp angle on that rear window, and that big, mean “singleframe” grille dominating its front end. Audi’s calling this grille “the new face of the Q family.” It’s a face you can get used to seeing every morning.
Audi promises the Q8 offers a roomier interior than “most” its competition. With the seatbacks folded you get a generous 62 cubic feet of cargo space, more than enough room for all your whitewater rafting gear (if that’s your thing). Inside there’s also MMI touch response, Audi’s latest infotainment interface (as seen in the newest A8 sedans) and a pretty pimpin’ Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system.
Under the Q8’s hood is a 340 hp, 3.0-liter V6 engine. That’s more powerful than the Q7’s 3.0-liter, thanks to a 48V “mild hybrid” system that’ll be fitted to all Q8 models. It comes with Quattro all-wheel drive as standard.
Audi hasn’t given any other production powertrain specifics, so no word yet on how this thing actually drives. Until we can get behind the wheel of one and tell you, you’ll just have to settle for drooling over these arresting photos. Poor you.
Deliveries begin later this year.