Prologue is Audi’s 725hp, Shanghai-bound stunner

This is the third in Audi’s series of Prologue concept cars. It’s the most powerful yet, and therefore the best.

It’s called the Prologue Allroad, and it’s got a mighty 725bhp. Welcome, all, to the family-car future.

This Shanghai motor show-bound study follows the first Audi Prologue concept we saw back in November last year – the Coupe – and the Prologue Avant we saw in Geneva just last month. As its siblings, this new car previews Audi’s future design strategy, and toys with the concept of a supercar-crushing hybrid powertrain.

How crushing? Well, the Prologue Allroad uses the familiar 4-litre twin-turbo V8, as deployed in the S8 and Bentley, here treated to a powerful electric motor snuggled between engine and eight-speed tiptronic gearbox. Total power output stands at that headline 725bhp, and a whopping 664lb-ft of torque, sent, of course, to all four wheels.

Though no weight figure is given, we’d venture on somewhere just shy of two tonnes, which makes the zero to 62mph (100km/h) time of 3.5 seconds all the more astonishing.

And yet, despite such pace, Audi reckons the hybrid setup – and a 14.1kWh lithium-ion battery in the rear – will help the Prologue Allroad to 33 miles on electricity alone, and return a combined 117mpg. There’s wireless charging too, which Audi is developing for series production. No more unsightly cables, then.

Otherwise it’s the same as the Prologue Avant we saw at Geneva, though here jacked up by 77mm. It still measures the same – a mahoosive 5.1m long – though there’s lightweight materials, used for example in the front axle, which is a lightweight five-link job. There are 20in brake discs made of carbon fibre ceramic, adaptive air suspension, all-wheel steering and an interior pinched straight from the future.

You’ve got three touch displays up front, configurable infotainment options with swipe functionality, and stuff like OLED tablets in the rear.

It’ll get its world premiere at the Shanghai motor show, all 725bhp-5.1-metre-hybrid-ness of it.

Source: BBC News