Browse any corner of the Internet, and it won’t take long to realize that SUVs beaten with the coupe stick seem universally hated. However, out in the real world, where people buy things with their presumably hard-earned money, it’s a different situation. What started as a fad in 2007 with the original BMW X6 has become a lucrative segment for luxury automakers and even some mainstream brands.
Audi is no exception, offering multiple Sportback-styled derivatives of its SUVs. The Q8 goes a step further, as it’s marketed as a standalone model. While we haven’t talked about the Mercedes GLE Coupe rival in a while, that doesn’t mean it’s dead. A second-generation model has now been confirmed by the man calling the shots in Ingolstadt.
When Gernot Döllner stepped in as CEO in September 2023, Audi hadn’t decided whether it would be worth pursuing the Q8 any further. Edmunds spoke with the company’s boss and learned that under the new management, the German luxury automaker green-lit a new generation: “When I joined Audi, to my surprise, there was no decision for a successor, but we changed that.”
The New Audi Q8 Is Coming Soonish
Although there haven’t been any spy shots of the new Q8, the #1 at Audi says it’s coming out in the “nearer future.” That tells us it’ll be released before the end of the decade, but we don’t expect to see it until 2028 at the earliest. It’s unclear whether it will have the new design language pioneered by the Concept C and Nuvolari, as a future model’s styling is locked in years before it actually hits the market.
If not, it’ll once again be a Q7 with a more rakish roofline, serving as a far more affordable alternative to the Porsche Cayenne Coupe and Lamborghini Urus. With the Touareg, Volkswagen Group used to have an even “poorer” sister riding on the same MLB Evo architecture, but Wolfsburg’s range-topping SUV has been discontinued. As before, the new Q8 is likely to be assembled in Bratislava, Slovakia, alongside its platform-sharing siblings.
With Audi already giving the new Q7 and first-ever Q9 the S treatment, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume another SQ8 is on its way with a V8 engine. It’s too soon to say whether a new full-blown RS Q8 will follow, but we wouldn’t rule it out, given that there’s already a healthy foundation in higher-end models like the Cayenne and Urus.
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