WELL have a look at this!
Audi has confirmed that it will round off the bottom end of its Q-badged range of SUVs with a baby off-roader, the Q1.
The Audi Q1 could well be the first premium-badged car in this segment
The new baby SUV – pictured in the artist’s impression with suitably ‘Tonka Toy’ style tyres – is due to arrive in 2016.
The market for small SUVs and crossovers is very hot at the moment – the popular Nissan Juke showed the way, and has since been joined by the Renault Captur, Peugeot 2008, and Vauxhall Mokka, with the UK launch of Ford’s EcoSport due shortly.
Unless Land Rover, BMW and Mercedes are playing their cards very close to their chests, however, the Audi Q1 could well be the first premium-badged car in this segment.
The Q1 is just one element in a programme that will see the Audi range extended from 49 models today to more than 60 by 2020, as Audi expands the choice of company cars and business cars it has on offer to the SME market.
By the time it gets to 2020, Audi expects to be selling over two million cars a year.
The SUV Q models – Q3, Q5, Q7 – already account for 28 per cent of Audi sales, a proportion due to rise to over 35 per cent by 2020,helped no doubt by the Q1.
The current big seller is the Q5, which also serves as the basis for the forthcoming Porsche Macan.
Despite the rapid pace of expansion, Audi has found space to build the Q1 at its traditional core plant at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, rather than building a new plant.
