Audi to unveil 724bhp plug-in hybrid in Shanghai

Audi continues to dazzle us with their Prologue concept series as they now plan to bring in elegance with practicality with an Allroad five-door station wagon, which will make its world premiere at Auto Shanghai. This concept series was first kicked off with the coupe concept in Los Angeles and later the Prologue Avant wagon at the Geneva Motor Show.

The Prologue Allroad is 5.13 metre long and gets a long sloping roofline that drops smoothly when it reaches the D-pillars. This makes the station wagon look more coupe-like and with raised suspension, it gives a sporty and dynamic profile. It is 77 mm higher than that of the Audi Prologue Avant. The 20-inch brake discs are made of carbon-fibre ceramic and houses 22-inch alloy wheels.

It is also equipped with adaptive air suspension sport – an air suspension system with controlled damping – offers a wide range between comfortable cruising to tight handling. The dynamic all-wheel steering combines a variable-ratio, dynamic steering unit with an additional steering unit for the rear wheels to ensure there is no conflict between dynamic driving and stability.

It gets 4.0 TFSI engine – a V8 with twin turbochargers – and the electric motor integrated into the eight-speed tiptronic produce a mind-boggling 724 bhp of power and 900 Nm of torque. The quattro all-wheel drive system utilises the power of the Audi Prologue Allroad for all kinds of terrains.

This concept rockets from 0 to 100 kph in 3.5 seconds and at the same time it is capable of achieving up to 50 kpl according to the NEDC standard for plug-in hybrids, which corresponds to 56 grams CO2 per km. The lithium-ion battery mounted in the rear of the car has a capacity of 14.1 kWh for a purely electric range of 53 km. With its AWC (Audi wireless charging), the Audi Prologue Allroad can also be charged inductively.

The Prologue Allroad's instrument panel integrates three touch displays. Aluminium frames surround the driver displays to the right and left of the steering wheel. The front passenger can configure infotainment options using a widescreen display fully integrated into the instrument panel. He or she can swipe to send these to the right driver display or to the Audi virtual cockpit future behind the steering wheel.

The centre console tunnel houses an additional driver display for climate control system, infotainment and text input. Audi has used OLED technology so that the screens display high-contrast images. When inactive, the display is in a flat retracted position; as soon as the car is started, it moves up at an angle. With a series of concepts coming out from Ingolstadt, it clearly shows Audi is well prepared for the future.