Audi Q8 Finally Shows Its Face

The Q8 makes an all-too brief appearance in Audi’s five-part mini-series, plus new sketch of front end emerges online.

The much-anticipated Audi Q8 will finally break cover next week, but before then we have to endure a few more episodes of the automaker’s ‘Q8 Unleashed’ web series. Instead of promoting the SUV’s forthcoming reveal with a traditional teaser campaign, Audi is releasing an online five-part mini-series featuring fictional characters in some sort of kidnapping plot, but it’s all just an excuse to showcase the Q8 before its official reveal.

It should be getting us excited about the Q8, but instead we’ve been frustrated with the SUV’s lack of screen time, cringe-worthy one-liners, and poor acting. Bafflingly, the Q8 barely featured in the last two episodes. This could have been Audi’s answer to the action-packed BMW Films starring Clive Owen, but it’s backfiring badly.

The third episode might just be the worst in the series yet but at least we finally get to see the Q8’s face, albeit briefly. In the last episode, lead character Quentin encountered a mysterious female truck driver after being left stranded in a desert. He hitches a ride with her in episode 3 to get back to civilization but just as they're about to get it on, they discover the truck is carrying something. They open the trailer and discover it was transporting the Audi Q8. Predictable, much? At the very end of the episode, we get a very brief glimpse of the SUV’s aggressive front end and LED headlights, but in all honesty the semi-truck has more screen time than the Q8.

So far, we know the Audi Q8 shares the same platform as the Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga, and Volkswagen Touareg. Like the Q7, engine options will likely include a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine producing 252 hp and a more powerful turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 model with 355 hp. Audi is also expected to offer a plug-in hybrid variant with a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 engine, an electric motor and lithium-ion battery producing a combined 438 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. Now that the Audi Q8 has finally made a proper appearance in this bizarre mini-series, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get to see it in action in the final two episodes.

Since the release of the latest episode, Audi has released a more revealing teaser sketch on Facebook, giving us a better look at the new flagship SUV's front end. Previewing the future design language of all upcoming Audi SUVs, the design doesn't deviate from the original Q8 concept too much, retaining its distinctive singleframe grille with vertical slats. Audi says the Q8's bold styling is inspired by the iconic Quattro of the 1980s. The result is an aggressive front end featuring an abundance of creases on the hood, a thick silver frame surrounding the grille and LED headlights.