Six liters, 500 horsepower, and 737 lb-ft of torque. Those are absurd numbers, and they're destined to forever be associated with an absurd--and yet strangely awesome--piece of machinery: the Audi Q7 V-12 TDI. (Say that three times fast.) There's no word on release dates or official pricing, but we do know one thing: Audi has decided to shoehorn a diesel V-12 into its Q7 sport-utility, and the end result is . . . well, it's probably not going to be slow.
Yeah, ok. So that's understatement. It's probably going to be fast as hell.
Some numbers: Peak torque comes in at a claimed 1,750 rpm. Sixty miles per hour arrives in 5.5 seconds. And combined fuel consumption is an estimated 19 miles per gallon.
Audi is no stranger to diesel technology. Their Le Mans-winning R10 prototype (pictured at right) also sports a low-revving, high-output, diesel V-12, and has proven to be both nearly bulletproof and astonishingly fast. We're expecting this concept will make an appearance later this month at the Paris Auto Show, so check back for more when our coverage goes live on September 28.