Audi: goodbye to the V12 TDI

The news is not official yet, but increasingly insistent voices speak of a final stop to Audi Q7 6.0 V12 TDI, The “monstrous” sport utility thrust from the 12-cylinder diesel car available. The career of the most powerful Audi Q7, born with the diesel engine 500 hp to celebrate the victories of the Audi TDI at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, then would be exhausted after a few years, leaving a legacy to other models in the exaggeration of 1,000 Nm at the engine behind this decision there would be too low sales numbers, related in part to a base price of 136,600 €.

The V12 TDI has always been confined to the European market alone, it is indeed an anomaly in today’s automotive and represents a kind of Technology flag for the manufacturer from Ingolstadt. Beyond considerations of image and prestige, such a diesel is a little too much ‘out of place in the current economic and financial crisis and even less politically correct towards the issue of environmental and greenhouse gases. Suffice it to say that the Audi Q7 6.0 V12 TDI is in third place among the diesel emits more carbon dioxide, with 298 g / km behind Mercedes G350 CDI and GL 450 CDI, Tied for first at an altitude of 307 g / km of CO2.

The sale of the V12 TDI Audi is however a well-established trend that sees disappearing from the market those who were “Diesel dinosaurs”With multi-cylinder engines and large size. The thin supply of diesel V8 and V10 of the one removed last year by the VW-Audi range is in fact his first home in the improvement of technologies applied to the 4-cylinder and 6 cylinder diesel. The new possibilities offered by the performance twin-turbo 3.0 V6 TDI, which on Audi A6 coming soon 313 hpSeems at this point in the future maybe even the V8 TDI 4.2, capable of expressing 340/350 hp.