Audi Q8 e-tron: large electric SUV to be discontinued in February 2025

We had almost guessed it: the Audi Q8 e-tron, the luxury SUV with the four rings, is being discontinued. This has now been reported by Automotive News Europe. We also asked an Audi spokesperson, who confirmed that the model built in Brussels will no longer be available from next year.

According to the spokesperson, the model will have a successor. However, he did not want to tell us whether it would be based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) or the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), like the Audi Q6 e-tron.

Automobil-Industrie had already reported on a successor at the end of October. The model will probably be built in Mexico, but probably not until after 2026. Production of the current Q8 e-tron in Brussels, on the other hand, will be discontinued at the end of February. The company announced this to the works council and the trade unions.

Q8 e-tron dead:

Nobody wants to hire the 3,000 Audi employees in Brussels

Audi bids farewell to the Q8 e-tron and closes a plant in Belgium

The reason for the discontinuation is that sales have fallen short of expectations - especially in China. However, the model is really not selling badly in Germany: in the first 10 months of the current year, just under 4,200 units were sold, and almost 10,000 units were sold in the whole of last year. This made the model the number two electric Audi bestseller in Germany after the Q4 e-tron.

3,000 people work in Brussels who built around 50,000 cars last year. The site's problems apparently include difficulties with modernisation due to its proximity to the city and the high logistics costs. Audi was looking for a buyer for the plant, Nio and a commercial vehicle manufacturer were reportedly interested. However, the efforts ultimately failed. 

Gallery: 2023 Audi Q8 E-Tron

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The Audi Q8 e-tron was launched back in the spring 2019, then as the Audi e-tron. In November 2022, it received a facelift and extensive technical modifications. Since then, it has been known as the Q8 e-tron. The technical basis is the MLB Evo combustion platform, i.e. the modified modular longitudinal platform on which all larger Audis from the A4/A5 and Q5 onwards are based, as is the Lamborghini Urus. With a length of 4.92 metres, the car competes with the new Volvo EX90, the Polestar 3, the Mercedes EQE SUV, and the BMW iX.

The Audi Q8 e-tron is only available with an all-wheel drive and two or three electric motors. Special feature: only asynchronous motors (ASM) are used for propulsion. The recuperation intensity can be adjusted in three stages via steering wheel paddles. The batteries used are the 95 kWh battery (89 kWh net) and a new 106 kWh battery with an unusual NCA chemistry (nickel, cobalt, aluminium). In addition to the normal Q8 e-tron, a coupé-like Sportback is also available.

The bottom line

The Audi Q8 e-tron is dead. The full-size model, on which Audi has certainly not made a bad profit, is already no longer configurable and production around most of the European markets will end in February 2025. The reason for this is the weak demand in China, while the model sold well in Germany. However, the technology was no longer up to scratch and the energy consumption of up to 28 kWh/62 miles was really high. The fact that there is a smaller but technically superior model, the Q6 e-tron, sweetens the farewell. However, a large electric SUV from Audi will probably not be offered again until 2027 at the earliest.