Audi Q2 mini SUV and new Q5 SUV confirmed for 2016; Q2 will make global debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show in March
Audi will kick things off in the new year by banking in important financial investments for the company’s stranglehold of global market share in manufacturing and developing green technologies. The German manufacturer’s Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm bases will be benefitted by the nearly 3 billion Euros investment.
Amidst half of the money will be cashed in for the aforementioned technologies, Audi will be focussing on one of its key areas of expertise in the crossover segments as the new generation Q5 is confirmed to arrive in 2016 and the Q2 small SUV to make public debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show in March.
The Audi Q5 luxury SUV has been a worldwide hit and to take its sales numbers to the next level, the company will be preparing a successor based on the MLB architecture that underpins the Q7 and will go up against BMW X3. It makes all sense to do so as the popular SUV is still in its first generation whilst its bigger brother the Q7 – recently launched in India – has just entered its second generation. It’s no secret that the German trio of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW lock horns in every luxury segment.
To step up their rivalry, Audi has big plans set for the introduction of Q2 mini SUV. It will be positioned below the currently running Q3 and thus making it less expensive to buy for premium customers. Moreover, this segment has been identified to have great potential and Audi appears to take advantage of having a head-start against the other two manufacturers.
It’s worth nothing that BMW is rumoured to have an X2 in the works whilst Mercedes is also considering a small crossover that will send alarming signals to the premium offerings from Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. Although speculated to be somewhat identical to the Audi’s Crossplane concept design, the current generation A1 could be used as a basis for the Q2 mini SUV.
While many new models in VW Group sit on the MQB and MLB scalable architectures, the Audi A1 won’t make the transition until 2017 but its PQ25 platform could still be used as it can accomodate four-wheel driveline for top-spec models or even a toned-down PQ35 platform from the Q3 could do the job.
Another sector Audi will be pushing limits is the alternative fuel and drive systems with electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains are increasingly becoming inevitable. Audi launched the A3 e-tron Sportback hybrid as its first plug-in offering recently. With the Q7 e-tron to be available in global markets very soon, a pure BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) SUV based on the Audi e-tron Quattro Concept will be appearing as 2018. By 2020, Audi will expand its range to include 60 models.
Having purchased Nokia HERE mapping service in a joint venture with BMW and Mercedes-Benz for nearly billion Euros, the German auto major looks set to invest more on communication and interface technologies as well.
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