The Audi Q8 e-tron in its 4 variants are available from under RM300,000 in limited quantities.
The Audi Q8 e-tron is quite a unique electric vehicle in Malaysia that reveals how much tax money goes to the government when it comes to premium cars. Many will remember the original petrol-powered Audi Q8 debuted in Malaysia in 2019 for RM728,000. Then came the high-spec electric 2023 Audi Q8 e-tron models form as low as RM383,900 thanks to a generous tax-free policy on imported electric vehicles. While the Audi Q8 e-tron isn’t the same car as the regular Audi A8, it’s still positioned as a high-tier product and gets the best of the best in terms of equipment and tech from the brand with the four rings. Now in August 2025, the value proposition for these vehicles has just gone up.
The Q8 e-tron was discontinued from production last year when Audi closed their Brussels plant. That means right now, the Audi Q8 e-tron is on clearance sale in Malaysia. So you can drive away a flagship level electric vehicle that’s fully imported from Europe with a massive battery, great specifications, and head-turning looks, for just RM299,990.
Compared to the most popular electric vehicles from China, it’s not the cheapest, but compared to those from established premium brands, this is an extremely good value for money proposition. For any fully-imported Audi to be this well equipped and priced at below RM300,000 should get the attention of quite a few customers. After all, it’s not every day a company throws such a massive discount on any product.
The one to get is the lower spec Q8 e-tron 50 model. This gives you a smaller battery pack with slightly lower charging speeds and slightly less power and equipment. However, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a near complete Audi experience. On this model, you’re still getting quattro all-wheel drive thanks to the dual motor setup.
You’re getting the Audi digital experience with a Virtual Cockpit front and centre and a MMI haptic touch-enabled infotainment unit. You get wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, powered front seats with memory for the driver side, four zone climate control, a powered tailgate, and loads of safety features as standard. You can even use the Audi Connect app to control your car’s locks, locate the vehicle and track the vehicle’s status.
The Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that are standard on the Audi Q8 e-tron are something else. Not only do you get Lane Departure, you also get Adaptive Cruise Control with lane, swerve and turn assist, plus Front AND REAR Audi Pre-sense and cross traffic assist too. The Surround View Camera is super clear and there’s Park Assist for tight spots plus Emergency Call functionality should the worst happen. All of this is standard.
It’s still a very fast car, with 340PS and 664Nm of torque on tap, though it is let down slightly by its weight, which brings its century sprint time down to 6 seconds – still brisk but not neck-snapping. This makes it more powerful and much larger than something like the locally-assembled Mercedes-AMG A35 4MATIC, which is more expensive than the Q8 e-tron 55.
The 95kWh lithium ion battery is on the large side and Audi sets aside a small percentage of its true capacity so that you don’t ‘feel’ the range degradation over time. A full charge in perfect conditions should nett you about 491km, but in our Malaysian climate, you’d be lucky to get even 400km. The charging speed isn’t particularly impressive, but it’s not bad. 11kWh AC charging puts it on par with the BYD Sealion 7 and 150kW DC is about what you’d expect from a premium electric vehicle.
What’s more, this specification with the standard body shape gives you plenty of usable space in the rear – 569 litres of space even with the rear seats in use is nothing to scoff at. The standard body style also gives you a silhouette that’s almost wagon-like. And everyone knows Audi makes some of the best looking wagons in the business.
With these specifications and this price, you’d expect the warranty package to be lacking. Well, that’s not the case here. You get the standard manufacturer 8-year/160,000km battery warranty, PLUS the Audi Assurance Package thrown in for free. This includes a 5-year/150,000km manufacturer warranty, a 5-year/75,000km free maintenance service package, and 5 years of roadside assistance.
As much as I’d recommend the Audi Q8 e-tron 50, it was the Audi Q8 e-tron 55 Sportback S-Line that I ended up asking for for my trip down to Johor Bahru. The simple reason is down to the range that the ’55’ model gives you. Here the battery is larger, at 114kWh, which on paper gives you 582km of range on a full charge, though in Malaysian weather you’re more likely to get under 500km of driving range.
Going from KL to KLIA and then to Port Dickson only took up 25% of the battery capacity, and this was with the car fully laden with 5 people and luggage. This variant also bumps the AC charging speed up to 22kW. We took advantage of this on two occasions – once by a hotel near the Port Dickson Cape Rachado Lighthouse trail and a second time at the KPJ Specialist hospital in JB. These helped to juice up the car at a reasonable price and at a reasonable pace. DC fast charging is 170kW, which we also managed to use on the way back to KL at the Pedas-Linggi lay-by. A quick washroom break there got us from 25% to 50%.
In terms of performance, the dual motor set-up in this variant has 408PS and 660Nm of torque available, bringing the 0-100km/h time down to just 5.6 seconds. You also have adaptive air suspension to soak up the worst of the roads and we certainly appreciated that on the B-roads leading to and out of Port Dickson.
It was nice to have genuine Valcona leather, aroma built-in to the climate control and power-assisted door closing.
The 21″ five arm black turbine style alloy wheels, matrix LED headlamps, illuminated Singleframe grille, flat-bottomed sunroof and panoramic glass sunroof also added to the ‘premium flagship’ experience.
This spec has style going for it, so the Sportback bodystyle really did suit it and the boot space was still more than usable at 528 litres. Audi has long been a pioneering in lighting technology and if you want to see how far they’ve taken it, look no further than with the Q8 e-tron 55.
This car has Digital Matrix LED headlights with HIGH-PRECISION light control, giving you on-the-road info and a cool lightshow including the Audi brand mark when you start the vehicle up at night.
The virtual exterior mirrors are an interesting addition too. I think these are pretty cool, with high resolution, high refresh rate monitors that provide better visibility at night than regular mirrors.
However, some may personally prefer old-school mirrors, which is why we would urge anyone interested in the Audi Q8 e-tron to take it on a test drive at the expanded Audi dealer network while stocks last.
Some people actually love this high-tech direction and will appreciate just how much of a flagship experience they get out of the top-tier Q8 e-tron 55 Sportback S-Line. Others will feel like the standard Audi Q8 e-tron 50 is already great value for money with enough nice-to-haves.
Audi Q8 e-tron 50 Specifications
Motor: Dual Motor all-wheel drive
Battery Capacity: 95kWh
Range: 491km
Max Power: 335hp
Max Torque: 664Nm
Top Speed: 200km/h
0-100km/h: 6.0s
Audi Q8 e-tron 55 Sportback S Line Specifications
Motor: Dual Motor all-wheel drive
Battery Capacity: 114kWh
Range: 600km
Max Power: 402 hp
Max Torque: 664 Nm
0-100km/h: 5.6s
