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Another Audi SUV

Topics:  Audi Q1

Another Audi SUV

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
December 4, 2013

On the basis that you can never have enough of a good thing Audi have confirmed that a new SUV model called the Q1 will be produced at its plant in Ingolstadt, Germany from 2016. That’s it in the design drawing above.

“The Audi Q1 is part of our broad-based SUV strategy. It is designed on the basis of the modular transverse engine concept and will round off our Q series at the bottom end,” according to the Chairman of the Board of Management.

As an attractive entry into the Q family, the new model will sit below the Q3 and make, Audi say, a significant contribution to the company’s ongoing growth and will strengthen its international competitiveness. Audi is continuing its model offensive with the Q1; by 2020, the brand will expand its product range from the current 49 models to more than 60, and will reach total unit sales of more than two million cars each year.

The decision to produce the new model will help to secure utilisation of capacity at the main plant in Ingolstadt over the long term. At this site, Audi produces models in the A and B segments, namely the A3 and A3 Sportback and the A4/A5 family.

The Chairman of the General Works Council, has welcomed the decision: “This is a clear commitment to Ingolstadt as a production site. We will continue to make every effort to develop the plant even further as the leading technological site of the Audi Group.”

The Q family currently comprises the Audi Q3, RS Q3, Q5, SQ5 and Q7. The Q5 is the global market leader in its direct competitive environment. By the end of October this year, 194,930 examples of this mid-size SUV had been delivered to customers – a 17 per cent increase over the same period last year. A production total of approximately 230,000 Q5s is planned for 2013, which is more than half of the total Q volume.

The proportion of the company’s total production volume accounted for by SUVs will be about 28 per cent this year, and is planned to rise to more than 35 per cent by 2020. Overall, Audi has produced and delivered more than 1.5 million Q family models since the market launch of the first SUV in 2006.

DriveWrite is a seriously big fan of the Q7 and drove one recently. I’ll have a report soon but even I have to wonder about the global SUV bubble. Certainly the SUV sector is hugely popular but at what point does the saturation point come, especially when the small car sector is growing so quickly. Doesn’t stop me wanting the big Q car though.