Continuing Audi's latest series of concept cars is this, the Prologue Allroad that will be shown off to the motor show crowds in Shanghai. Like the previous two Prologues (Coupe in Los Angeles last year, Avant estate in Geneva two months ago) this is a close preview of the styling and look of the next generations of A4, A6 and A8, all of which are due to go on sale in the next three years.
It's clearly related to the Geneva Motor Show Avant concept, but rides higher (it has an extra 77mm in the springs) and has the usual Allroad-style protection panels for surviving the rough and tumble of off-roading. They are a bit more subtle this time around though.
Underneath, it uses a plugin hybrid drivetrain, which combines Audi's wondrous, sonorous 4.0-litre turbo V8 engine (from the RS 6 and Bentley Continental) with electric motors and a stack of batteries. Combined, it has more than 730hp and enough torque to re-start a dead black hole. Audi claims 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds, but 117mpg (2.5 litres/100km) and 56g/km of CO2, plus 50km of range on just the batteries.