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Audi is planning something big––literally. After years of waiting, it appears that the luxury brand will finally have a full-sized offering to top its SUV lineup, giving the likes of the Mercedes GLS and BMW X7 a tad more competition to deal with. The Q9––as it will most likely be called––is said to arrive by 2025 at the latest, or, if we're lucky, later in 2024.
The latest rumors on Audi's supersized utility come from Australia, with Audi Australia director Jeff Mannering dropping hints during a recent interview with CarSales. When asked about the possibility of an SUV that would slot above the midsize Q7 in Audi showrooms, Mannering confidently replied, "Yes of course. If you just look at volume versus different brands, we’re not in some segments that others are in."
He continued that the brand is "looking at different segments and what’s successful in some of the bigger markets," so it's safe to assume that Audi has likely seen enough of the success earned by other entries in the full-size luxury SUV segment. And frankly, the company has ignored this part of the SUV market for far too long “Australia is an important market, in particular with SUVs because it’s a pretty high mix of our model range. Like Q7 and Q8 – it’s up there on volume for us and we have good profitability on the cars as well," said Mannering.
The Q9 is likely to be one of the many new models Audi plans to introduce within the next few years, which means a reveal shouldn't be too far off. "Let’s see what happens in the next 24 months,” Mannering said, all but confirming that the Q9 is set to arrive in either 2024 or 2025.
As for powertrains and other specs, the details are scarce. But with Audi's plans to split its gas and electric offerings between odd and even numbers respectively, it would be fair to guess that the Q9 will pack a gas engine under its hood, though we wouldn't be surprised to find some hybrid assistance. The alternative would be for Audi to completely demolish its delicate new nomenclature with an electric model that wears––gasp––an odd-numbered badge. But assuming that the brand does stay faithful to its alphanumeric laws, the Q9 could be one of the last gas-powered vehicles to grace Audi's dealer lots.
That being said, what if Audi decided to bid gasoline farewell with a decked-out RS Q9 to take on Mercedes's AMG GLS 63? Mannering didn't leave such a thing out of the question, so this could be more than just wishful thinking. "We’re number four [for sales] in the world for RS models," he said concerning the brand's Australian operations. "If we could get more cars we would sell more RS models and we’d probably be number three in terms of global Audi RS sales. We’re really high up in the volume of RS. Australians love performance cars, they love SUVs."
Image Credits: Audi
Future Cars
Jan 29, 2024
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More Rumors Emerge On Audi's Plans For A Full-Sized Q9 SUV
Audi's largest SUV to date could arrive within the next couple of years.
Audi is planning something big––literally. After years of waiting, it appears that the luxury brand will finally have a full-sized offering to top its SUV lineup, giving the likes of the Mercedes GLS and BMW X7 a tad more competition to deal with. The Q9––as it will most likely be called––is said to arrive by 2025 at the latest, or, if we're lucky, later in 2024.
The latest rumors on Audi's supersized utility come from Australia, with Audi Australia director Jeff Mannering dropping hints during a recent interview with CarSales. When asked about the possibility of an SUV that would slot above the midsize Q7 in Audi showrooms, Mannering confidently replied, "Yes of course. If you just look at volume versus different brands, we’re not in some segments that others are in."
He continued that the brand is "looking at different segments and what’s successful in some of the bigger markets," so it's safe to assume that Audi has likely seen enough of the success earned by other entries in the full-size luxury SUV segment. And frankly, the company has ignored this part of the SUV market for far too long “Australia is an important market, in particular with SUVs because it’s a pretty high mix of our model range. Like Q7 and Q8 – it’s up there on volume for us and we have good profitability on the cars as well," said Mannering.
The Q9 is likely to be one of the many new models Audi plans to introduce within the next few years, which means a reveal shouldn't be too far off. "Let’s see what happens in the next 24 months,” Mannering said, all but confirming that the Q9 is set to arrive in either 2024 or 2025.
As for powertrains and other specs, the details are scarce. But with Audi's plans to split its gas and electric offerings between odd and even numbers respectively, it would be fair to guess that the Q9 will pack a gas engine under its hood, though we wouldn't be surprised to find some hybrid assistance. The alternative would be for Audi to completely demolish its delicate new nomenclature with an electric model that wears––gasp––an odd-numbered badge. But assuming that the brand does stay faithful to its alphanumeric laws, the Q9 could be one of the last gas-powered vehicles to grace Audi's dealer lots.
That being said, what if Audi decided to bid gasoline farewell with a decked-out RS Q9 to take on Mercedes's AMG GLS 63? Mannering didn't leave such a thing out of the question, so this could be more than just wishful thinking. "We’re number four [for sales] in the world for RS models," he said concerning the brand's Australian operations. "If we could get more cars we would sell more RS models and we’d probably be number three in terms of global Audi RS sales. We’re really high up in the volume of RS. Australians love performance cars, they love SUVs."
Image Credits: Audi
