Audi Q8 Sport Concept
Audi has never stuck its range-topping RS badge to any SUV larger than the baby Q3, but that?s set to change. When Car and Driver spoke with Audi Sport boss Stephan Winkelmann at the launch of the RS3 sedan, he confirmed that we can expect to see several new RS SUVs.
Winkelmann?s previous job was as head of Lamborghini, where he was responsible for the decision to create the upcoming Urus SUV. He admits that he immediately identified the lack of anything similar when he took over at Audi Sport, home of the company?s RS-badged cars as well as the R8 and the customer racing program.
?We don?t have a big lineup,? he told us. ?The right cars means having them in segments that are growing, and also segments that are equally distributed in the regions of the world. Therefore a CUV shift is due; we are working on it, and you will see it coming.? Insiders have previously indicated that both the Q7 and the upcoming Q8 (concept preview pictured at top) are likely recipients for the RS treatment, satisfying Winkelmann?s criterion of appealing in all of the world?s major markets. A brace of ultra-high-performance RS SUVs would let Audi enter an arena where its rivals are already well established and take the fight to the BMW X5M and X6M as well as the Mercedes-AMG GLE63 and its coupe sibling. Not to mention Lamborghini?s Urus, the Porsche Cayenne, and even its Bentley Bentayga cousin.

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