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Audi has given us the Irish prices for the new Q8 SUV, its range-topping luxury sports utility vehicle, and it's going to be pricey - you'll need to cough up €103,050 for a Q8 3.0 TDI with the 286hp V6 diesel engine. Doubtless, there will be other, more affordable, models in due course...
Sporty S line spec will be standard on all Irish-market Q8s, and the order books open in late August, with vehicles arriving in dealers later in the year.
Henning Dohrn, Managing Director, Audi Ireland said: "The new Audi Q8 underpins the brands commitment to continuously innovate across Audi's complete luxury range. Furthermore, the new Audi Q8 represents a completely new offering in the segment and with its striking design, superior versatility and cutting-edge technology, reinforces Audi's vision for the future of automotive design."
Lower, wider, and shorter than the Q7 (with which the Q8 shares a chassis) the five-seat only Q8 has a leg-stretching wheelbase of 3.0 metres and a still-pretty-big boot which, when you fold the back seats flat, can swallow 1,755 litres of whatever it is people load into really expensive big SUVs.
Wheel sizes go up to 22 inches, whole Matrix LED headlights will be standard. If you've got the myAudi app on your phone, you can make the lights do a groovy little dance from outside the car.
All Q8s will come with a mild hybrid setup (as with the A7, A8, and the upcoming new A6), so there's a 48-volt system that either adds power or saves fuel according to taste. The mild hybrid can let the Q8 'sail' for short periods with the engine at idle at high speeds, or can even activate the stop start system when slowing down from speeds as high as 22km/h.
Four-wheel steering will be available as an option, on top of standard 'progressive' steering which alters the steering ratio the further the wheel is turned.
The two-screen MMI system, as seen in the A7 and A8, is standard, and four-zone climate control will be available on the options list. MMI Navigation Plus sat-nav is standard, there's an LTE data module that allows for both an in-car WiFi hotspot and for the car to communicate directly with the internet, both for live news, parking, fuel cost, and traffic feeds in the sat-nav, as well as communicating servicing needs with your local dealer. There's also two Car-to-X services for traffic sign information and hazard information which benefit from the swarm intelligence of the Audi fleet.