A big powerful V6 Diesel for the big Audi Q9

Doing very well what no one wants to do anymore, at Audi, is no longer an accident; it’s almost a philosophy.

While the global automotive industry now almost exclusively swears by electric vehicles, Audi unveils its brand new Q9: a 5.31-meter-long SUV, over 2.20 meters wide… and driven, at first, by a good old V6 Diesel. Certainly electrified, but still Diesel.

On paper, the reasoning is not absurd. Audi knows that this type of behemoth will often travel very long distances, sometimes with seven passengers and their luggage. In this exercise, a six-cylinder TDI still has solid arguments: a generous torque of 630 Nm, controlled consumption, and an autonomy that many electric SUVs would still envy. The MHEV+ technology provides an electric assist of 24 hp and even allows for some evolution without engaging the thermal engine. Enough to improve efficiency… and especially reduce official CO2 emissions.

For therein lies the whole paradox. This “new generation” Diesel must also allow the Q9 to escape an ecological penalty that would have been astronomically high with a more traditional engine. A mild hybridization that resembles more a tax passport than a genuine technical revolution.

Audi makes Audi

The rest of the vehicle fully embraces its excess. Seven seats as standard, a VIP lounge-style interior, electric doors, the largest panoramic roof ever mounted on an Audi, an avalanche of driving aids, and even curved OLED lights touted as a world first: it’s hard to be more demonstrative.

Ultimately, the Audi Q9 perfectly illustrates the brand’s current strategy. While some manufacturers are decreasing the dimensions of their models or hastening their switch to 100% electric, Audi continues to believe that there is a clientele ready to invest in a huge premium SUV capable of covering hundreds of kilometers effortlessly. A clientele that, evidently, has not yet mourned Diesel.

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Rather than being trendy, the Q9 fully embraces its status as an automotive UFO. A gigantic, luxurious, ultra-technological vehicle… and powered by a technology that many proclaimed doomed just a few years ago. Audi is indeed swimming against the tide. But one must admit that in Ingolstadt, they still know how to do it very well.

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