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Audi Q8 approved for production
Hackenberg confirms larger, sportier SUV is on the way and will reach global markets in 2017Audi is set to follow BMW and Mercedes-Benz down the road of the swoopy, large soft roader, it confirmed today.
The German premium brand's development head, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, used the Los Angeles Motor Show to say he would deliver a dedicated sportier SUV to accompany next year's seven-seat, second-generation Q7 (pictured).
With BMW already into its second generation of the X6 and Mercedes-Benz about to follow it with a new model expected to be named the GLE Coupe, Dr Hackenberg confirmed the Q8 would follow the Prologue concept's new design language to bring some sexy to Audi's high-rise range.
"The Q8 will come. It will be something new, following designs established on the Prologue concept," Dr Hackenberg confirmed.
"It will be positioned as something more emotional and more sporty than the Q7. The Q7 will be a car for seven people, the Q8 will be more coupe like."
With the Prologue ranking as the unrivalled star of the Los Angeles Motor Show, Dr Hackenberg promised it would take a lot of the concept car's design cues, including its muscular hips and wide single-frame grille.
Its visual differences to the Q7 won't need any contrivance to achieve either, because the more volume oriented will be the last car to emerge from Wolfgang Egger's days as design boss at Audi, while the Q8 will be one of new design head Marc Lichte's first.
Dr Hackenberg confirmed the Q8 had already been approved for production and will be on sale before the end of 2017 and, by 2020, will sit alongside a full SUV range including the Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6 and Q7.
Pitched as the SUV version of the A8, it will sit with the big limo on equipment levels and luxury fittings, with entry level engines including Audi's strongest biturbo diesel and V8 petrol powerplants, while being pre-engineered for plug-in hybrid power.
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Written byMichael Taylor
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