It’s a Mad World: 500-hp, 757 lb-ft of Torque V12 TDI Audi Q7!

As of late, Audi seems to have a collective one-track mind that’s
focused on diesel. It’s put TDI power in just about everything it
makes, from its R8 supercar to its TT sports car, and even its smallest
A2 economy car. It’s well on the track to making the world’s cleanest
diesel available for our North American market too, and has conquered
Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series with a prototype racer powered
by this unorthodox fuel. And now it’s about to apply its
track-dominating TDI technology to the performance SUV segment with
this 6.0-liter V12 twin-turbocharged diesel-powered Q7.

Essentially,
this is the production version of the insane concept car that was
launched at last year’s Detroit show. This monster of an engine, just
like the concept, makes a full-fledged 500 horsepower and a gargantuan
1,000 nm of torque - equal to 757 lb-ft of torque from 1,750 to 3,250
rpm. That not only makes it the world’s most powerful diesel fitted to
a production car, but one of the quickest sport utility vehicles
anywhere. Zero to 60 mph is conducted in a hardly believable 5.5
seconds, and it has no problem topping out at an electronically limited 155 mph. Unbelievably, despite this performance, it consumes
an average of just 20 mpg of diesel.

The
Q7 V12 TDI isn’t, however, just a big engine crammed into a crossover
SUV. Audi has reworked much of the Q7 to accept the engine and cope
with the power. A serious portion of the chassis has been redesigned
and is now made from aluminum, while the suspension has been built up
to cope with the weight of the engine. To provide stopping power, Audi
has fitted 20-inch carbon-ceramic discs with eight-piston front
calipers, surrounded by 21-inch wheels.

Although the Q7 V12 TDI
isn’t an “S” car, each model will be produced by Audi’s specialty
division, quattro GmbH, and feature an upgraded interior trimmed in
high-end materials. The Q7 V12 TDI will begin terrorizing Cayennes and
AMG MLs in Europe starting this summer, with nothing announced for
North America.