This New Audi Q8 Teaser Hints The Luxury SUV Will Be No Wallflower

Audi has begun teasing the big reveal of the Q8, dubbed "the most extravagant Audi you have ever experienced" by the German automaker. Set to slot in above the Q7 SUV as an even more luxurious truck, the Audi Q8 may well cause some internal waves as it takes on cars like the Porsche Cayenne and even Bentley's Bentayga in the process.

Now, Audi has revealed new design sketches of the Q8, ahead of the car's official debut at the Audi China Brand Summit Shenzhen. Promising to be "the most exciting Audi SUV of all times," at least as the automaker itself sees is, the Q8 is expected to take the category into a different direction from its existing models.

While the Audi Q7 certainly isn't short on technology or high-end fit and finish, it's also designed to carry large groups or people or cargo. Seven seats and a sizable trunk add up to plenty of flexibility for families, after all. However the Q7 tops out at a 3.0-liter supercharged gas engine, in the US, at least, which has long been seen as paving the way for a more performance-focused model.

To some extent, the Audi Q8 will be that car. The new flagship SUV be built atop the same Volkswagen Group MLB platform as the Q7 – and, indeed, the Bentayga and Lamborghini's new Urus SUV – but will sacrifice some of the space is permits in favor of bolder styling. At the front, there'll be a striking hexagonal grille with dominant vertical slates. That will flare out to the slim projection headlamps and the sizable front air intakes.

At the rear, meanwhile, the practical upright trunk of the Q7 has been jettisoned in favor of a more dramatically angled hatch. That gives the Q8 something of a station wagon look, albeit one jacked up on SUV suspension. The result is a car that, while maybe not your first choice for an epic IKEA run, certainly looks a lot more interesting than most SUVs.

Inside, if the Q8 Concept that Audi showed off back in early 2017 is anything to go by, that same prioritization of luxury and style over practicality is carried through. Just four seats were included in the concept car, each a plush throne so that those in the rear aren't compromised in comfort. There's a floating dashboard design, along with all the touchscreen and virtual gage tech we've grown to expect from recent Audi models like the A8.

As for drivetrain, the Q8 Concept packed a plug-in hybrid system. That combined the 3.0-liter TFSI gas engine from the Q7 with electric motors and an eight-speed auto transmission. Overall, it meant around 402 HP and 516 lb-ft of torque, delivered through quattro all-wheel drive.

Whether that'll make it to the production Q8 remains to be seen. Audi has been pushing its plug-in hybrids of late, but also bringing 48V mild hybrid technology to the mainstream. With the Audi e-tron quattro all-electric SUV in the pipeline, it might opt to leave the Q8 as a mild hybrid to better distinguish the two. We'll know more very soon, when the Audi China Brand Summit Shenzhen takes place in early June.