Audi Confirms a New Q8 SUV Is Coming

Audi recently launched an overhauled Q7 and brand-new Q9. So what happens to the middle-child Q8? I asked Audi CEO Gernot Döllner about the future of the Q8 at a media event in New York this week, and he assured me, a successor is on the way.

"When I joined Audi, to my surprise, there was no decision for a successor, but we changed that," Döllner said. "In the nearer future there will be a successor."

The Q8 is the Q7's rakish five-passenger-only sibling, sort of like how the BMW X6 relates to the more upright and traditionally styled X5. Riding on architecture shared with the Lamborghini Urus and Porsche Cayenne, Audi offers the Q8, SQ8 and RS Q8 in the U.S., the latter of which is pretty stinkin' fun to drive.

Döllner told me there are no plans to change the Q8's positioning in Audi's lineup; it will continue to complement the Q7 with a sportier bent. Expect both V6 and V8 engines to be offered — including the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 found in the SQ9. The new Q8 should arrive in the next couple of years.