Audi updates its Q8 flagship SUV

With SUVs carving out almost a 50 per cent slice of the global new car sales pie, automakers are striving to keep their SUV offerings updated amongst their competitors. The latest SUV to get an update happened at the Munich Motor Show and comes from Audi’s stable and is the brand’s flagship SUV – the Q8.

The new Audi Q8 now starts at 86,700 euros, and for that money, customers now get an extended palette for wheels, colours, decorative inlays, and seats with contrast stitching to choose from. The major highlights include tweaks to the exterior design and some additions to the Q8’s feature list, with the mechanicals staying the same.

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The headlights, bumper and grille area receive subtle tweaks. Even the front bumper air inlets have been reprofiled to make it seem more seamless with the rest of the tweaks. However, the main takeaway here is the new headlight and taillight units. While the former now gets HD Matrix LED units with a laser as an additional high beam, the latter is digital OLED rear lights with four selectable light designs which can light up if a vehicle comes from behind within two meters of a stationary Q8. 

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The interior doesn’t boast as many tweaks as the exterior. The changes here comprise the different stitching and inlay patterns on the seats. An expanded app store and third-party music apps such as Spotify and Amazon Music now come built-in. Furthermore, updates to the 360-degree camera and Audi’s virtual cockpit now display vital information such as lane-change, distance, and other warnings in full HD.

As mentioned before, the petrol and diesel powertrain options remain the same. The petrol line-up starts with a 340hp 3.0-litre V6 engine, and the diesel line-up commences with a 231hp 3.0-litre V6 engine. All engine units are coupled to an 8-speed automatic gearbox and quattro four-wheel drive.