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Audi delaying CUV launches until 2009
Audi is going to put off the launch of three new SUVs into its arsenal until the end of the decade, primarily for marketing reasons. Really, it's only one new model – the compact Q5 – plus diesel and hybrid versions of its Q7 crossover.
The reason for the delay is primarily to avoid Audi's newest entrants from getting lost in the ether of year-end sales drives, and thus allowing all three vehicles to be marketed as 2010 models, which were originally destined for sale in the third quarter of 2008.
Although we haven't seen the Q5, meant to compete with BMW's X3 and Mercedes' upcoming GLK, it's been well known that the new cute 'ute has been under development for some time, finding a home atop the VW Tiguan platform. The diesel Q7 will be arriving around the same time, and will come to market packing a three-liter turbo-diesel V6, producing 230 HP and 400 lb.-ft. of torque. Since the new engine will be 50-state compliant, it's "just a matter of formality," according to Audi's U.S. head Johan de Nysschen, that the oilburner will find its way into the A4, A6 and A8 models of the future.
All three vehicles, including the 280 HP V6 hybrid-equipped Q7, are all likely to be revealed in Detroit in 2009.
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yago Bal 8:34AM (9/24/2007)
Damon:
You forgot about the Q3, that is beeing developed from the Cross Coupe concept (http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/19/audi-exec-reveals-more-future-plans/), and based on the Tiguan platform.
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Ligor 8:40AM (9/24/2007)
here's hoping they re-style them a bit
casue from what I see they seem kinda ugly
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Mike 8:56AM (9/24/2007)
I feel like Audi is one of the few companies that has done a crossover right with the Q7, the other being the Murano/QX45. I bet the Q5 does well in The States, I hope it comes with a green diesel.
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graviton 8:59AM (9/24/2007)
Audi is getting ridiculous. How many different models do they need?
A3, S3 and cabriolet versions
A4, S4, RS4 and cabriolet versions and avant versions
A5, S5, RS5
A6, S6, RS6 and avant versions
A8, S8, R8
TT coupe, TT roadster
Q7
And now this?
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Tom Design 9:58AM (9/24/2007)
Hey, go for it Audi! Such wonderful cars with such nasty, cheap black front grills. Make as many models as you can while you redesign that ugly pig snout. Nothing since the Edsel and the Tribeca have shown such a horrible nose and face in car design history. The current plastics look like grills taken from a KMart Stereo Speaker, then stuck onto a fine luxury car. Who the hell dictated that corporate design mistake back in the early 2000's? And then who stubbornly forced it onto every model right across to the VW lineup? Shows how a bad designer at the top can push a piggy look if they have enough power. Like the Emporer's Clothes, child story...riding naked through town while everyone shouts admiration for your attire. You couldn't do something creative with the beautiful ring designs from your logo? Audi needs a makeover and soon.
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Me!!! 10:24AM (9/24/2007)
how stupid. this marketing is more likely to lose more customers than keep them anticipated. the technology is going to become old and out dated.
i'm one of the 'potential' customers. i know about the Q5 and i was gonna buy it sometimes at the end of next year in germany but now they have p*ssed me off so I'm gonna have to settle for another brand.
i am a audi customer who owns a current A4 and Q7. I was gonna trade the A4 in for the Q5 next year but oh well.
@ tomdesign at above: that is a concept car, mate. the cheap plastic obviously wont make it to the market.
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Yago Bal 11:01AM (9/24/2007)
Tom:
The piggy look is working great because, unlike the Edsel and the Tribeca, Audis sell like hot cakes! :) I wouldn't worry! ;)
Damon Lavrinc:
Besides the Q3 data that I mencioned before (and left the Autoblog article source), I think it would be important to note that this delay is for the US market only: in Europe the schedule is unchanged.
Me!!:
You can still buy it in Germany by the end of the next year! :)
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Yago Bal 11:09AM (9/24/2007)
...oh, Damon, it's well known that the Q5 will not be based on the Tiguan platform, but on a version of the new A4's and A5's B8 platform.
You should revise the article a bit.
Cheers
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Tom Design 11:16AM (9/24/2007)
aye, Yago...it's all a matter of taste. Mine is good, and Audi's designers' are bad artists, that is all...:)
how could they loose a chance to design around that beautiful series of "O"'s is what I'm really upset about.
Pig snout, instead, ssooooooeeeeeeiiii!!!
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mike 12:56PM (9/24/2007)
Seems like I will have to wait longer now for the Audi diesels to arrive. My local BMW dealer said that they will be taking orders this Fall for X5 diesel orders for early 2008. That's bad news for Audi if BMW beats them to the punch by a year!
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el_monty 4:08AM (9/25/2007)
I work at an automotive testing facility in Europe and I thought the launch of the Q5 was imminent, because the car is finished; I've seen it, I've been inside it, I've seen it being crashed... Everything is ready. And one thing that me and my co-workers have agreed on is that it is going to sell like crazy. If the far-too-big-for-Europe Q7 already sells as much as it does here, a more resonably sized car like this should be a no-brainer success. To hear now that Audi is going to just sit on it and that it will be two years before it is released is weird. They had an opportunity to come out ahead of the GLK, the re-styled X3, and the Volvo XC60, and they're just going to throw it away? Makes no sense to me.
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Yago Bal 5:25AM (9/25/2007)
Don't worry.
As I said before -and the article failed to mention- this delay is for the US market only.
It will start selling in Europe as scheduled.