Audi's hybrid onslaught for Oz

Audi's local product planning team has added hybrid variants of the A8 and A6 model ranges to the standing wishlist for the Aussie market.

Both vehicles may make it here, according to Audi's General Manager for Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf, although it's too early to tell how they would fit in the range alongside their conventional counterparts if they did.

"[The A8 Hybrid is] definitely on our agenda, as is the A6 Hybrid," she volunteered in conversation with motoring.com.au today.

"At this stage we haven't confirmed that either car will definitely come here, but... the A8 is certainly a car we're looking at with interest."

With technical information still thin on the ground, Burgdorf was not in a position to confirm that the A8 Hybrid, should it come to Australia, will be a quattro variant. In fact, it seems unlikely that the Hybrid will be anything other than a front-drive model — the only one in the local A8 range. Press material out of Germany indicates that the drive will be channelled to the front wheels from the eight-speed transmission — with no mention of torque split or drivetrain components in the rear.

That's at odds with the system powering the all-wheel drive Q5 Hybrid our man in Germany, Michael Taylor, drove back in January — confirmed for Australia and not far off, according to Burgdorf. The different drivetrain configuration would make sense, since the A8 will be more closely constrained by packaging than the SUV.

Everything about the A8 Hybrid points to finding a balance between practicality and efficiency. The Audi is likely to offer more boot space than the Lexus LS 600hL — another hint that there'll be no quattro drive in the hybrid A8. Compact batteries, possibly a spacesaver spare or a tyre repair kit and the nonexistent driveshafts and differential will all contribute to luggage space comparable to that of a conventional mid-size car.

"We have lithium-ion batteries [in the A8] and it looks like our trunk space is 400 litres," Burgdorf confirmed.

"[The boot space] is less than a combustion-engine A8, but it's still fairly decent. Obviously, that's a factor of a hybrid car... you [would] expect we would work fairly hard to maximise the available space and minimise the weight."

On the subject of where the A8 Hybrid would sit in the range, it's "very, very early days" to discuss pricing, says Burgdorf, but she did offer that it would be "competitive".

While Porsche markets the Cayenne SUV in both diesel and hybrid variants — with the hybrid significantly more expensive — Burgdorf didn't care to be drawn on whether Audi would follow that example.

"We have to go through all the details of spec as well... we are simply not all that far down the track. The goal is to keep the car relatively light, because that's the way to maximise your fuel [efficiency]..."

The drivetrain for the A8 Hybrid bears much in common with the system used in the Q5 Hybrid; a 2.0-litre TFSI engine drives through an eight-speed transmission. Instead of a torque converter, the transmission incorporates a wet-plate clutch system to decouple the petrol engine from the disc-shaped electric motor that recovers energy on the overrun, restarts the petrol engine and drives the wheels either in EV mode or with assistance from the piston engine. The electric motor resides between the clutch system and the transmission.

Audi claims that the petrol engine and electric motor combined produce 180kW of power and 480Nm of torque, for a fuel consumption measure of 6.4L/100km in combined-cycle testing. The manufacturer claims that the overall result is like crossing six-cylinder power with four-cylinder economy. Described by the company as a parallel hybrid, the A8 can travel in EV mode at speeds of up to 100km/h and can range three kilometres at a steady speed of 60km/h.

Peak power from the petrol engine alone is 155kW and torque tops out at 350Nm, between 1500 and 4200rpm. For its part, the electric motor contributes 40kW and 210Nm. Paired, the two motive power units can propel the A8 Hybrid to 100km/h 7.7 seconds after the standing start. Top speed is claimed to be 235km/h.

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