Audi Q8 E-Tron Edition Dakar Has Decent Off-Road Upgrades

Photo: Audi

Audi made its return to the Dakar Rally in 2022 with the awesome RS Q E-Tron, a wild-looking dedicated race rig that uses a two electric motors powered by a gasoline four-cylinder engine. While the RS Q E-Tron has yet to see major success in the rally — in its first year the truck’s best finish was ninth, and last year two of the Audis retired and the other came 14th — Audi is set to try again in the 2024 Dakar Rally, which kicks off later this week. To celebrate and bring attention to its efforts, Audi is releasing a new special edition of the Q8 E-Tron called the Edition Dakar.

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The Q8 E-Tron Edition Dakar builds off of the “55″ version of the Q8 E-Tron, meaning it has a 106-kWh battery pack and two electric motors that put out 402 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque. The air suspension’s height has been raised by 2.5 inches for the standard modes and 1.2 inches in the off-road mode, giving the Edition Dakar better approach and departure angles as well as deeper wading capability, and the tuning has been adjusted for better off-road performance.

Photo: Audi

Unique 18-inch wheels (the E-Tron normally comes with 19s as the smallest option) are wrapped in General Grabber AT3 all-terrain tires, and the Edition Dakar gets the wider wheel arches from the SQ8 to accommodate the wider track. Realizing that not everyone wants to drive on off-road tires all the time, every Edition Dakar will come with a second set of 20-inch wheels fitted with snow tires. With the all-terrains the Edition Dakar will hit 62 mph in 5.9 seconds, a tenth off the normal time.

The only color options for the Edition Dakar are Siam Beige (obviously the correct choice), Magnetic Gray and Mythos Black. The singleframe grille is finished in body color, while the wheel arches and other lower body accents are painted Mythos Black. A graphics package inspired by the RS Q is available on Mythos Black cars; only 99 of these will be sold. Other styling cues include tinted sun visors, a standard roof rack that can hold up to 88 pounds, and of course lots of special badges. You also get a new tilt-angle display, plus three special schemes for the infotainment and ambient lighting inspired by the dunes, desert thunderstorms and tire tracks.

For now the Q8 E-Tron Edition Dakar will only be available in Germany, with order books opening within the next couple months. The Edition Dakar will start at around €120,000, a big jump up from the €87,000 E-Tron on which it’s based and even €20,000 more than an SQ8 E-Tron.