Audi Q3 2015 News

The latest model in Audi's SUV push is not officially confirmed from Germany but is clearly revealed in new Carparazzi images that have been drafted from inside information fresh from Europe. The Q3 is revealed as a compact, classy, soft-roader which will take Audi's SUV drive in a new direction and well away from the wagon-style look of its closest rival, the BMW X1 that will be revealed later this year for sales in 2010 in Australia. The design of the Q3 picks up the softer, rounded look of Audi's recent compact concept cars and is clearly related to the baby A3 hatchback. But it will sit higher and have a body shape that is closer, in some ways, to the controversial BMW X6 that has polarised SUV buyers since it was launched last year. The Q3, like the Q5, will come late to the class but Audi is confident it will do well against the X1 and rivals including the production version of the Land Rover LRX — a baby city car — which is also programmed for 2010. The big difference is that BMW is taking a wagon-style approach to the design of the X1, which uses the mechanical package from the 3 Series all-wheel drive model. It is intended more as a go-anywhere family wagon than a sporty SUV.

Audi will add the Q3 alongside the giant Q7 and just-launched Q5 as it goes all-out to fill every opportunity in the prestige SUV business. The Q3 will also go up against the upcoming BMW X1, which should be in showrooms around the same time. No firm details of the Q3 have been released by Audi, although it says the Cross Coupe Quattro Concept gives some idea of its thinking. The Cross Coupe is more car-like than either the Q7 or Q5, with a rounded five-door wagon body and a coupe-style rounded roofline. The Q3 will be built in Spain and is part of an ambitious Audi plan to have 40-plus individual models in its line-up by 2015. The cost of this new-model rush is more than $2 billion a year. The new SUV is already on the radar for Audi Australia but it is not yet confirmed for local sales. "There is nothing we can confirm, except to say that it's something we're interested in," says Audi Australia spokesperson, Anna Burgdorf. "There is a good chance of seeing the Q3 in Australia, if there is the right market for it. We never make a decision for a new model without knowing it's going to be successful. "We need the right price and the right engines and the right customers to buy it."