Audi released a new concept sketch of the Q8, but the Hot Wheels aesthetic doesn’t give us much to go on. We doubt the production model will come adorned with 30-inch wheels and balloon out toward the bottom, as illustrated. However, the drawing does appear to indicate an adherence to a taillight design not all that different from what we’re seeing on the A8.
Extending across the entirety of the vehicle’s rear, Tim Cain compared the sedan’s brake light styling to the now dead Dodge Dart. While the colorful Q8 draft indicates something a bit more angular, the basic shape remains intact and makes us wonder if this aesthetic will eventually spill into the rest of Audi’s stable.
That theory will take some time to pan out, but discovering the final decision on the SUV’s taillights won’t. Despite the official reveal still being a few weeks away, Audi has announced an original, adult-themed five-part video series — called Q8 Unleashed — starring the vehicle. The first episode is scheduled to drop May 21st.
The concept is derivative of the BMW film series The Hire, which initially came out in 2001 to showcase Clive Owen manhandling the brand’s fleet. The series returned for a brief run in 2016, which makes us wonder if a marketing manager at Audi was a fan.
Audi’s plot seems a little more involved than “a driver gets hired by various people to drive BMWs in extreme ways.” Unleashed revolves around an affluent couple, living in California, who get into serious trouble and just happen to own a Q8.
Here’s the plot synopsis form the automaker’s press release:
“Sandra and Quentin, an extravagant power couple from the Golden State, had it all. Successful careers, a design loft, an influential circle of friends and the perfect car to match it all.
But in a split second everything is about to change. Unleash five gripping episodes and be rewarded with a first glance at the most thrilling Audi SUV of all times.”
With so much sex and gunplay in the trailer, we can’t help but wonder if the couple has children. If not, Audi will have to find another way to showcase the SUV’s interior volume and practicality. Presuming they’ve haven’t been breeding, we’ll gladly offer up plot points and dialog for the next season about how impressed Sandra is that Quentin could fit so many corpses and kilos of heroin in the back of their brand new Q8.
[Image: Audi]
Surprise, it looks like an audi.
Surprise!! The biggest advancement in Audi’s design language – the headline-maker – is the fact that a plastic lens now connects the tail lights! I am SHOOK.
I wonder if the Q8 will have the KITT startup lightshow like the A7. Am I the only one who thinks all the LED animation is a bit juvenile and a bit beneath an upper-tier brand like Audi? It works on the Mustang, and would work on a GTI I suppose, but when I see Kayley driving her leased Q5 to Target and I see those animated turn signals it just looks a bit silly.
When Audi met Lincoln.
Yep. Can you say “MKC”?
I tried – it is difficult to pronounce.
When KIA met Hot Wheels.
“New taillight design” ??
Seen all across the industry for years now to the point they could be supplied by Universal Parts Bin Inc.