We can’t know for sure that Audi took the Q8 concept that debuted at this year’s Detroit auto show and simply threw on a new coat of paint, gave it new bumpers, and stuffed a trick powertrain into its nose, but that’s all it would take to create this orange Q8 Sport concept?the Sport moniker is new! It is all but identical to the original Q8 concept, with a few key exceptions.
That Engine (and Electric Motor, and Electric Compressor)
Both vehicles preview the Q8, a ?coupe? variant to be built on the Q7 SUV platform. The Detroit show car was a plug-in hybrid combining a 333-hp turbocharged V-6 and a 134-hp electric motor/generator integrated with the transmission (total output: 443 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque), whereas the Q8 Sport revealed in Geneva gets more adventurous and inventive, intending to preview the SQ8 performance model.
For starters, the Q8 Sport is a fairly basic hybrid?with no allowance for plug-in charging?that uses a smaller, lighter 0.9-kWh lithium-ion battery pack to deliver electric assist via a transmission-mounted electric motor during acceleration as well as brief spurts of electric-only driving. It also employs this stored electricity to power a compressor mounted in the intake plumbing, thus canceling any lag by providing instantaneous boost. This technology is better known as an e-charger or electric supercharger, and it’s something Audi has been pioneering for a few years now; after gracing RS5 TDI prototypes...