VW Group’s decision to focus on plug-in hybrid and electric powertrains means that Audi’s fresh V8 engine family is probably the last to come out of Ingolstadt.
Audi’s managers plan is to have between 25% and 35% of Audi’s total output as battery-electric vehicles by 2025 a source said to Autocar and that doesn’t leave much room for scheduling the development of a new V8 engine.
“It would be very difficult to justify the huge investment in another new V8 because of the cost of developing electric drivetrains and battery packs”, said the source. “You have to ask what the best use of investment money is.”
The first engine of the new V8 family has just debuted under the bonnet of the SQ7 in diesel form. In this application, it features two conventional turbochargers and -for the first time- an electric compressor to keep the turbos spinning regardless of the engine speed.
The new V8 will also power the new Porsche Panamera, Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Continental and Bentley Bentayga, both in petrol and diesel forms.
Future regulations though could eventually force most, if not all, car-makers to move towards smaller V6s and electrified powertrains, with Volvo having already declared that they will no longer produce anything with more than four cylinders.
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