Audi mulling more seven seaters

Audi, in December last year, had announced that it was planning to launch 11 all-new models within a few years. Now, at the Detroit Motor Show, Audi revealed its intentions to introduce more seven seaters – including a seven-seater version of the Q5 and a larger model to sit above the new Q7.

“Our Q range has lots of potential. There is a growing market for small SUVs, hence the Q1, and there is definitely space between the Q3 and Q5, and the Q5 and Q7, as well as above the Q7,” Dr Ulrich Hackenber, Audi Technical chief told AutoExpress. 

Not surprisingly the ‘Q’ range is taking the centre stage as the American and Chinese markets have shown strong demand for the luxury SUVs. While the Q4 is likely to be a sportier-looking version of the Q3, the Q6 won’t simply be a sportier version of the Q5, it will actually be more practical. 

“Sporty is one direction we can go in, but we also want to improve the number of seats,” Hackenberg explained. The reason being that ‘sporty’ is something few customers would associate with, while sporty and practical is what would appeal to a larger audience. Moreover with MPVs not as popular as SUVs, the obvious choice would be to target the latter segment. 

Last month, Audi had confirmed that Q1 would be the first to be seen in its arsenal. This car will join the Q series in 2016 and will now be Audi’s entry-level SUV. Another, even bigger, seven-seater model to sit above the Q7 in the line-up, likely to be called Q8, is also under development.  But Hackenberg has confirmed that before all this it’s the Q1 the world will be talking about.