- Audi hasn’t announced pricing for the 2024 Q8 e-tron. It’s a successor to the 2023 e-tron (no Q8 in that name), which starts at $70,800, plus $1,195 to deliver. We expect that price to rise by a few thousand to account for the upgrades.
- The name is new, but this isn’t an all-new car. It’s a refresh of the 2023 e-tron, with a new name to clarify that it’s Audi’s flagship electric SUV.
Audi didn’t quite introduce an all-new electric vehicle this week — it refreshed an old one. But, along with the updates, it gets a name change that makes it sound like something we haven’t seen before.
The 2023 Audi Q8 e-tron is an updated version of the 2023 Audi e-tron. The name change, Audi says, comes to help customers understand the vehicle.
Audi’s Electric Flagship
It “will communicate very simply, very precisely, and very clearly for our customers the prestigious positioning as our highest-level electric SUV,” a spokesperson tells us. Sharing a name with the flagship Q8 SUV should make it clear that the Q8 e-tron is the electric top of the Audi lineup.
That clarifies that the Q8 e-tron is meant to take on the Tesla Model X, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and other similar high-luxe crossovers.
It also serves as a bookend to the Audi Q4 e-tron, a smaller, less-expensive all-electric SUV.
Masked Look
Like most Audi crossovers, it comes in two forms: A traditional SUV style and the sleek, coupe-like style Audi calls “Sportback.” Both benefit from a dramatic new face, with what Audi calls an “inverted grille” surrounded by a thick frame. On sporty S Line models, the frame is body color. Other models get it in matte silver or black, which can look almost like a facemask. The grille uses automatic shutters to close at higher speeds to improve aerodynamics.
A thin light bar joins the narrow daytime running lights.
From the grille back, less has changed. Audi says this is the first model to have the Audi name laser-etched into the B-pillar. The fact that this is worth noting means that the cars’ two silhouettes are fundamentally unchanged.
Same Power, More Range
Power output stays the same — a 355-horsepower model capable of short bursts of 402 horses, or a 429-horsepower version that can surge to 496. But the handling may have improved, as Audi says it retuned the air suspension and gave it “noticeably more agility thanks to its revised progressive steering.” A new gear ratio in the steering system should mean lighter steering at low speeds, addressing an issue we’ve never heard anyone complain about.
The battery remains the same shape as before, but Audi says it has packed more cells into the same space. That should help address our test driver’s biggest complaint about the 2023 e-tron — its comparatively short range of 226 miles. But the EPA hasn’t yet tested the Q8 e-tron, so we don’t know how many miles that the denser battery adds.
Carbon Neutral, Sustainable Materials
If you were to sit in the 2023 e-tron and the 2024 Q8 e-tron back to back, you’d notice few differences in the interior. They’re mostly style updates — every interior color option now includes contrast-color seating panels, and a new walnut trim is available.
But Audi says it has significantly upgraded the cabin’s sustainability. Audi says production of the car is now net carbon-neutral (we’re not sure how much of that includes carbon offsets for energy used). As a luxury automaker, Audi avoids hard plastics. But, in the few places they’re inevitable, such as seat buckle covers, they’re now recycled.
Optionally, buyers can order some interior trim in a material made from recycled water bottles.
Technology stays mostly the same, but remote park assist plus appears. It lets the owner remotely guide the Q8 e-tron into a parking spot using a smartphone.
