Audi Q8 Concept Dissected: Design, Chassis, Interior, and More!

The rear door skins undergo multiple stampings to achieve the delicate chamfers along their top and bottom edges and the deep section near the rear-wheel cutout. Inspired by the '80s ur-Quattro coupe's box flares, the Q8's shoulders add 2.9 inches of width relative to the Q7. Other flourishes inspired by the rally icon: the black panel spanning the tailgate, the chunky D-pillar shape, and the thin cooling slots just above the grille.

We like to think of the Q8’s restrained yet amply embroidered design language as “baroque minimalist,” a pseudo-architectural term we just totally made up. The Q8’s simple two-box shape and fairly conventional roofline demonstrate the clean part of the aesthetic, as does its lack of haunches stretching wide over the rear tires to denote earth-moving rear-drive muscle, as on the X6.

Close up, though, the Q8 has uncharacteristically heavy-handed details. Even without exactly upending decades of Audi’s design restraint, the multiple hood strakes, body creases, and new eight-sided grille with yawning vertical spears present as jarring disruptions. Taken in full, the Q8 awkwardly straddles Audi’s minimalist roots and the in-your-face impact the coupe/SUV segment demands. Musing over the ur-Quattro that inspired the Q8, Mindt declared that the rally coupe “isn’t a beauty, but it is strong.” We’d agree that that just about sums it up.