2019 #Audi #Q8 Luxury Mini-Ute Features Coupe-Like Elegance, SUV Seating [Auto Styling News]

Sharing a name (Q8) with a Middle Eastern nation probably appeals to a wealthy market there, if that was the thinking behind the name of the 2019 Audi Q8, which shares a platform with the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, and Porsche Cayenne, and aspires to the same luxury lineage.

Combining the elegance of a coupe with the functionality of an SUV, the Audi Q8 debuted in June at the Audi Brand Summit in Shenzhen, China. It will hit US showrooms at the end of 2018.

Inside, the five-passenger SUV offers advanced connectivity, infotainment and driver assistance systems, combined with capable driving dynamics, to set a new standard as the top SUV model from the Audi brand.

The Q8 introduces the brand’s new SUV design language. And it is at once stunning and aggressive. The large, single frame grille with its octagonal shape, combined with massive, highly contoured air inlets, give the vehicle a commanding presence on the road. The LED headlamp fixtures are blessedly angular, as is the entire vehicle, forever putting to bed the "upside-down bathtub" look of the mid-to-late 2000s.

The sloping roofline ends in gently inclined D-pillars and the pronounced wheel arches pay homage to the vehicle’s Quattro DNA, and hint at a couple-like shape, though not as much as, say, the Mercedes CLA. Along with the standard color palate of whites, grays and of course, black, the Q8 will be offered in a stunning "Dragon Orange" (shown here) or a brilliant "Navarre Blue."

A rather handsomely wrought light strip connects the tail lights at the rear of the vehicle, and in an homage to the original Audi Quattro, a black surface underlines and connects this strip. The indenture of the strip is mimicked in the light fixtures, themselves.

As is becoming common on all five-doors and SUVs, a sun-shielding overhang protrudes over the top of the rear window, which will both keep rain and sun from the glass. Rear visibility seems like it will be slightly hindered by the small rear window and somewhat large-looking C-pillars, as is the case with many other 5-door mini-utes.

But the vehicle overall has a gorgeous look to it - more car-like than SUV - which leads one to call this a Mini-Ute, or a full-on Ute. The available 22-inch wheels will definitely give it that appearance, despite the long-ish hood, which takes it solidly into the "car" realm.