DETROIT – On Sunday night, the Volkswagen brand celebrated arrival of the Atlas and all-new Tiguan by declaring 2017 the “year of the #SUVW.”
On Monday, Volkswagen’s luxury brand, Audi, builds on that momentum by unveiling two new premium utility vehicles: the compact Q5 arriving this spring and a Q8 concept that presages the production vehicle of the same name, arriving next year.
“This show car combines the emotional elegance of a coupe with all the advantages of an SUV – space and functionality,” Dietmar Voggenreiter, an Audi board member and head of global sales and marketing, says at the unveiling here at the North American International Auto Show.
Bathed in “Bombay Blue,” the 4-seat concept has a sleek silhouette. “Despite the downward slope of the roofline, the rear-seat passengers enjoy excellent head and shoulder room,” Voggenreiter says.
“The Q8 will open up a whole new segment to us,” he says. “Our customers strongly demand more models like this – SUVs that offer technology and luxury.”
Audi of America President Scott Keogh says utility vehicles made up 54% of U.S. luxury-vehicle sales in 2016, which explains the brand’s interest in expansion of the portfolio.
Propulsion for the Q8 concept, a plug-in hybrid with permanent quattro all-wheel drive, comes from a 3.0L supercharged V-6 paired with a 100-kW electric motor integrated within the 8-speed automatic transmission. Total system output is a stout 442 hp, with 516 lb.-ft. (700 Nm) of torque.
Audi says the Q8 concept accelerates from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 5.4 seconds on its way to a top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h). Based on the European driving cycle, Audi says the concept can achieve 102 mpg (2.3 L/100 km).
The lithium-ion battery located in the rear has a capacity of 17.9 kWh, enabling an electric range of 37 miles (60 km). A full charge with 7.2 kW output takes about 2 ½ hours.
The concept features large touchscreens and an expanded version of the Audi virtual cockpit, a reconfigurable and groundbreaking interface that transforms conventional gauges and helped earn Wards 10 Best Interiors and 10 Best User Experiences trophies for Audi in 2016.
The Q8 concept integrates a new user interface that will appear in the all-new next-generation A8 sedan, as well as a head-up display “that blends the virtual world into the real world,” Voggenreiter says.
The Q8 represents Audi’s fourth utility vehicle, following the Q3, Q5 and Q7. The Q5 is Audi’s best-selling vehicle in the U.S. in 2016 (43,272 units), accounting for a quarter of all sales. Globally, Audi sold 100,000 Q7 CUVs (including high-performance SQ7 and Q7 e-tron plug-in models) for the first time in 2016.
“This means we doubled the average annual sales of the past-generation Q7,” Voggenreiter says. “And we expect the new Q5 to be just as successful as its predecessor.”
Even with four utility vehicles, Audi will lag BMW, whose lineup has several variants of what is described as “sport activity vehicles” and “sport activity coupes.”
Asked whether Audi needs more than four utility vehicles, Keogh says the C-BEV concept shown in Frankfurt in 2015 (and rumored to arrive in production form as the Audi Q6) will give the brand five entries.
“And that’s not too bad,” Keogh says. “We think that’s a decent amount. But if you think about it, two big SUV segments will be taking almost 50% of the sales in America. It’s a place where you can have lots of alternatives.”
Demand for luxury utility vehicles has been brisk in recent years, and Keogh estimates the segment reached 1.8 million units in 2016. Going forward, he expects the sector to remain healthy, but he says growth over the next year likely will be limited to 2%.
“You’re going to have to conquest to get the job done because the market’s not going to give you 7% to 8% growth rates like we’ve had the past couple years,” he says. “For us, there are lots of opportunities to get those conquests.”
Also debuting in Detroit are Audi’s all-new A5 and S5 Cabriolet. Both are ’18 models featuring a 252-hp turbocharged 4-cyl. or a 354-hp 3.0L supercharged V-6.
The A5 and S5 Cabriolet feature a fully electronic top that can be lowered using a new one-touch opening function, in just 15 seconds, at speeds of up to 31 mph (50 km/h).
