Audi to launch Q1 in 2016

Audi is to launch a new compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) in 2016 to slot in below Q3. It will be produced at Audi’s plant in Ingolstadt.

"The Q1 is a key component of our growth strategy," claimed Rupert Stadler, Audi’s chief executive officer.

"It is designed on the basis of the modular transverse engine concept and will round off our Q series at the bottom end," said Stadler who is also chairman of the board of management of Audi AG.

According to Audi, the new model will make a significant contribution to the company's ongoing growth and will strengthen its international competitiveness.

With the Q1 Audi is continuing its model offensive; by 2020, the brand will have expanded its product range from the current 49 models to more than 60, and will reach total unit sales of over two million cars a year.

The decision to produce the Q1 will help secure plant utilisation at the main plant in Ingolstadt over the long term. At this site, Audi produces the A3 and A3 Sportback and the A4/A5 family.

Peter Mosch, chairman of the general works council, welcomes the decision: "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 2013, 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.   ∎