Active, highly efficient and extremely comfortable: Audi presents the Audi Q8 concept at the North American Cosmopolitan Auto Show (NAIAS) 2017. With this beau idal the premium manufacturer is tapping into a new segment for the full-size merit – an elegant alternative to the robust presence of a classic sport utility conveyance. The Q8 concept stands for maximum prestige. It combines the spaciousness conventional of an SUV with the emotional lines of a coupe. Propulsion is provided by a energetic, yet highly efficient plug-in hybrid with 330 kW of methodology output and 700 Nm (516.3 lb-ft) of torque. The concept car is the bottom for a production model that Audi will launch on the market in 2018.
At 5.02 meters (16.5 ft) lengthy, the Audi Q8 concept is an impressive presence in the full-size class. Gives to a wheelbase of three meters (9.8 ft), the show car offers plenty of duration for passengers and luggage. Despite the sloping, coupe-like roofline, on a par the rear-seat passengers enjoy ample head and shoulder range. The control concept uses large touchscreens in the cockpit and is rounded out by an stretch version of the Audi virtual cockpit and a contact-analogue head-up manifestation. The latter uses intelligent augmented reality technology that unites the real and the virtual worlds.
“The Q8 concept is an Audi in peak format. It demonstrates the strengths of our brand in both technology and design while accord a glimpse at a future full-size, production SUV. With its next-generation clat and control solutions, we are enabling customers to experience connectivity in a aggregate new way.” – Dietmar Voggenreiter, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG
Forceful Lines And Digital Matrix Laser Technology – The Front End
The front take in of the 2.04-meter-wide (6.7 ft) Audi Q8 concept is already impressive. The distinguishing visage here is the octagonal Singleframe with honeycomb insert. It is sculpted and significantly wider than in today’s Audi direction models. Six upright double bars structure the radiator grille while simultaneously play up its height. A mask painted in a contrasting color frames the grille. The unserviceable air inlets have a deep and dynamic appearance like the intakes of a turbine. A singular aluminum blade forms the bottom edge of the bumper.
The speedily, wedge-shaped headlights of the Audi Q8 concept are integrated progressively into the external and connected from a design perspective to the surrounding air inlets. The singular lighting units have glass covers, but the headlights as a mostly are open. This creates the impression that they are redeem in space. The aluminum housing for the headlights carries over the figure of the Singleframe. The clear geometry gives the Audi Q8 concept a resolved look. An x-shaped, blue laser light signature highlights the digital Matrix laser technology utilized for the low and high beams. Broken down into more than one million pixels, their happy-go-lucky can illuminate the road in high resolution and with precise direct. Located below the edge of the engine hood is a narrow LED obscure guide that emits the light for the dynamic turn signals and the daytime meet lights. It wraps around the outside of the headlights, where its ribs engender an innovative e-tron signature. All lighting functions are dynamic.
Athletic And Strong – The Side View
The silhouette of the Audi technology study also evokes tautness. The doors do not entertain window frames, thus contributing to the flat roofline. The Audi Q8 concept is 1.70 meters (5.6 ft) high. All lines on the body climb upward dynamically toward the put up – the bottom edge of the side window, the shoulders, the dynamic postal card and the sill lines. The surfaces of the fenders, doors and side panels are athletically curved. The tone down section of the doors form a deep fillet. Other form features are the quattro logo milled below the rear doors and also the exotic mirrors with their multifaceted edges. The doors are opened via abut sensors. As soon as the door detects hand contact, it set in motions easily and swings to a defined opening angle.
The extremely spread-eagled and very wide C-pillar is reminiscent of the Audi Ur-quattro from the 1980s, as are the strongly flared put someone downs over the wheels. This places the concept car in a logical prepare with the show cars of the Audi Prologue series. The balanced concords of the Audi Q8 concept emphasize the front and rear wheels equally – that too is customary quattro. The strongly accentuated wheel arches feature a dead ringer design. The sill region of the doors shines in brushed aluminum for an intriguing differentiate to the show car’s Bombay blue paint finish.
Flat And Epigrammatic – The Rear
A long roof edge spoiler shades the exceptionally flat rear window of the Audi concept car. A double spoiler lip lower down the window forms a distinctive contour on the power luggage pigeon-hole hatch. The strip of lights extending over the entire broadness of the rear end is part of a distinctive e-tron light signature. It serves as both the dock and brake light as well as the dynamic turn signals. The four missing lighting elements are set in aluminum blades and reflect the semantics of the headlights. The separate elements of the tail lights are also open, and all lighting events are dynamic.
The license plate of the Audi Q8 concept is located on a glowering trim strip between the lights – a typical feature of the Audi Ur-quattro. The diffuser is muddle through of aluminum; its clasp of high-gloss Carbon Atlas. This combine of materials is also used around the headlights to demonstrate sportiness.
Security Lounge For Four – The Interior
The interior of the Audi Q8 concept offers rich spaciousness for four persons and their large suitcases. The gear compartment has a capacity of 630 liters (22.2 cu ft). Widely stretched callings lend the cockpit a sporty as well as elegant ambiance. As good as floating above the center tunnel is a console for the shift-by-wire lever, with which the driver commands the eight-speed tiptronic transmission purely electronically. The console’s bearing resembles the stern of a sailing yacht.
The wrap-around begins in the towards doors. This large, horizontal arc runs along the degrade edge of the windshield and frames the driver’s and front passenger’s holds without hemming in the occupants. The sport seats as well as the two characteristic seats in the rear are made up of segments that appear to be divorce geometric bodies, from the pronounced side bolsters to the conduct restraints. A horizontal aluminum clasp divides the backrests at the apogee of the window shoulder line.
The instrument panel with its distinctly prone character descends in steps toward the interior. The central govern and display surfaces are integrated into the so-called “black panel” – a unreal black strip framed by an aluminum clasp. When switched off, the television screen is invisibly embedded in the surface and the lines flow harmoniously. When the show off is in operation, it assimilates perfectly into the design line. In the candid passenger area, the black panel encircles a graphical quattro badge. The arrow-shaped inlays in the doors pick up the indicative design. Filigree aluminum bars integrated into them suffice as door openers. When dark, LED light guides decorate the interior with white light.
The colors and materials in the Audi Q8 concept specify for a cool and sporty atmosphere. One highlight is the three-dimensional, engineered particle on the instrument panel, doors and floor. High-gloss carbon pertinences with a new, abstract fabric structure as well as aluminum pillages and frames set accents. Their brushed finish is relatively melancholy. Brightness increases gradually from the headlining to the center assuage in graduated shades of gray from steel gray to pastel silverware.
The technical materials in the Audi Q8 concept contrast with the gentle surfaces. The seats are covered in a combination of Fine Nappa leather and Nubuk leather, both in pastel silver-toned. The upholstery is pulled around the clasp that divides the backrests – the guts becomes the outside at this point. The head restraints are charged with a structured textile of a color similar to that of the leather climatic conditions b rudiments.
New Ways – Controls And Displays
The elegant interior architecture of the Audi Q8 concept coalesces with a groundbreaking control and display concept. Information and enjoins are passed primarily through touch displays augmented by the Audi essential cockpit and a contact analogue head-up display. All displays hallmark a new “digital design” that concentrates systematically on the most critical things.
The contact analogue head-up display projects weighty displays onto the windshield in the driver’s direct field of think of, seemingly placing them in the real environment. A navigation arrow, for admonition, appears in the same position as an actual arrow on the road – an quick-witted application of augmented reality. The notifications from the driver support systems also merge the virtual and physical worlds.
The Audi essential cockpit future is even more dynamic thanks to new runs, and with a resolution of 1920 x 720 pixels displays graphics with uncountable detail than ever before. In “auto” display manner, the 12.3-inch TFT display offers generous space for maps, lists and additional poop. The top-down map view visualizes the selected route. When zooming in, the posted position and surroundings are displayed in 3D. Through the buttons on the steering circle, the driver can switch to “performance” mode. The needles of the speedometer and powermeter now surface in a foreshortened, three-dimensional display.
All other monitors in the Audi Q8 concept are flair displays. The great strength of this principle is the direct, soundly and intuitive operation. Drivers select each function bang on where they see it. Audi was also able to reduce the company of buttons, switches and levers thanks to the touchscreens. The interior now shows even neater and cleaner.
The MMI monitor in center of the dashboard is occupied to control the infotainment system and for vehicle settings. A display for the mood control system is integrated into the diagonal section of the center calm. The driver’s wrist rests comfortably on the low selector lever of the eight-speed tiptronic while disliking this display. If the sensors in the seat detect a front-seat traveller, the touchscreen displays their climate control settings. This affair is not available when the driver is traveling alone. Another touchscreen is rigid for the lighting functions.
Powerful And Highly Efficient – The Drive Routine
The Audi Q8 concept uses production technologies for the drive method and suspension. Their use in the study demonstrates their importance promptly again. The plug-in hybrid combines sporty performance with peak efficiency. The combustion engine is a 3.0 TFSI producing 245 kW (333 hp) and a maximum of 500 Nm (368.8 lb-ft) of torque. The energized motor generates 100 kW of power and 330 Nm (243.4 lb-ft). Together with a decoupler, it is blend into the eight-speed tiptronic. The complete system produces 330 kW and 700 Nm (516.3 lb-ft) of torque. The Audi Q8 concept accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 5.4 man fridays on its way to a top speed of 250 km/h (155.3 mph). According to the standard applicable for plug-in composites, it consumes just 2.3 liters of fuel (102.3 US mpg) per 100 kilometers (62.1 mi) in the NEDC, communicating to 53 grams CO2 per km (85.3 g/mi).
The lithium-ion battery located in the rear consists of 104 prismatic cubicles. With a capacity of 17.9 kWh, it enables an electric range of 60 kilometers (37.3 mi), and the totality range with the TFSI engine is up to 1,000 kilometers (621.4 mi). A glaring charge with 7.2 kW output takes about two and a half hours.
When high-pressure, the hybrid management system controls the operating states of the Audi Q8 concept intelligently and flexibly. The full-size SUV can raise, coast and recuperate as appropriate for the situation. The predictive efficiency assistant, which in manufacture models supports the driver, provides the hybrid management procedure with highly detailed information about the near borderings for this purpose. Route data from the navigation pattern and Audi connect Car-to-X services are also considered.
The driver controls the Audi imply select system via a prismatic satellite button on the flat-bottomed hint wheel, just like the start-stop system. There is a prime of three driving modes: “EV” mode prioritizes electric effort, while in “hybrid” mode the decision regarding the drive strain is left largely to the hybrid management system. In “battery proffer” mode, it saves the available electric energy for a later for the nonce at once.
High-tech From Production Models – Drivetrain And Suspension
In the Audi Q8 concept, the quattro unalterable all-wheel drive system delivers the power of the hybrid street to the road with supreme control. At the cornering limit, it works closely with the wheel-selective torque subdue. This minimally brakes the inside wheels, which forward enhances dynamics and stability.
The technology study also usages high-end production solutions for its wide-track suspension. The adaptive air postponement sport – an air suspension system with controlled damping – allows a widespread off the mark range from cushioned cruising to firm and tight grip. In addition, it sets the ground clearance in two levels, with 90 millimeters (3.5 in) zenith difference, to the ideal level in each case. The front and rear ejections are engineered as lightweight five-link designs.
Audi mounts 305/35-series wear outs on the large 11J x 23 wheels. The five intertwining Y spokes propose a filigreed, three-dimensional and powerful image. Ceramic brake discs stamp 20 inches in diameter effortlessly decelerate the Audi Q8 concept.
