Audi engineers are formulating plans to probably construct a “tremendous saloon” luxurious off-roader SUV in 2027, It could compete in a phase that now consists of the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, based on a report in Britain’s Autocar.
In accordance with Audi designer Marc Lichte, quoted within the story, the platform for the brand new mannequin may very well be borrowed from the Volkswagen Group’s lately introduced sister model, Scout Motors, which is presently creating electric-powered ideas and prototypes.
Whereas Audi has developed a PPE (Premium Platform Electrical) structure for its base EV lineup, that might get replaced within the deliberate mannequin with Scout’s ladder chassis to offer the steep departure angles and floor clearance wanted to barter robust terrain, in addition to with the newest technology of Audi’s Quattro four-wheel-drive know-how, Autocar experiences.
Audi is properly into improvement of its Activesphere challenge, an attractive design mix of coupe and hatchback. The Activesphere makes use of PPE, co-developed by Audi and Porsche, and can seem in a manufacturing Audi product by the top of this 12 months. Audi says.
Past that, “I feel there may be area” for a rugged SUV in Audi’s passenger automotive lineup, Lichte mentioned.
“There may be potential as a result of there are solely two premium gamers” on this explicit phase” (Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover) “and I feel there’s a area for a 3rd one.”
The upscale Defender was by far Land Rover’s best-selling automotive final 12 months, with 66,805 bought, and the G-Class set a brand new gross sales report the earlier 12 months with 41,174 moved worldwide. Audi clearly want to capitalize on this reputation of the rugged 4×4 phase. The proposed competitor, mentioned Lichte, “won’t appear to be a G-Class and it’ll not appear to be a Defender, I can promise you. It will likely be one thing else.”
