SUV Wars Break Out In Bavaria
Audi wants to take on BMW in the European luxury SUV segment. Walter de’ Silva, design boss at the Volkswagen Group, told Automotive News Europe [sub] that Audi will definitely take on the BMW X6 with an Audi Q, and might also field a challenger to the BMW X4.
The Euro rumor mill already calls the X6 rival the “Audi Q6.”
“We will definitely launch a sportier crossover between the Q7 and Q5,” de’ Silva told ANE.
As the list below shows, Audi has a lot of competition, but is catching BMW in a period of falling sales. (We’ll see how the list looks when Audi launches its Q ships.) The list is compiled by JATO Dynamics and shows Europe’s top-selling premium large SUV with sales results in the first nine months of the year and change compared to the same period in 2010.
De’ Silva said that Audi is still making up its mind whether it should fit a smaller SUV between the Q5 and Q3. BMW confirmed that a similar sized X4 is coming, ANE figures an ETA of 2014.
RankModelSalesChange1 BMW X519,849-5%2 Land Rover Range Rover Sport13,179-10%3 Porsche Cayenne13,01851%4 Mercedes M class12,865-14%5 BMW X610,889-15%6 Audi Q710,31422%
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I just factory ordered a 2012 Q7. I drove GL, X5, G460, Escalade and MClass. The Q7 was the best for me because it had a normal liftgate which is becoming harder to find on luxury SUVs, it was not a rebadges Jeep Grand Cherokee or GMC Yukon Denali (drove that too). The GL is AWESOME, but the Q7 is ultimately a better deal in the same class.
Only one problem both the Range Rover and Range Rover sport will be replaced within the next year or 2 and in 3 or 4 years Range Rover launch the bigger version of the Evoque. With a smaller version of the Evoque also on the way and even a Jaguar Suv on the cards then Audi will be walking into a very crowded Market place. Brits buy a lot of these cars in Europe and guess whos the market leader..... Yep Land Rover. This is a Market JLR will fight tooth and nail on and they won't leave a single niche untapped.
the 5 Series GT offers a good value for car buyers. before you start laughing, hear me out. it is not a 5-Series hatchback with a $5k to $10k markup. is actually a 7-Series hatchback with a $15k price cut.
In Germany, none of these cars sell much. In two weeks I saw ONE Q7, and about three x3. The X1 was popular, but as far as any SUV goes, in the land of $10 gas and diesel, they are few and far between. Germans don't drive trucks as cars...they didn't get CAFE to screw this one up. Pretty much all these cars are "for export". There are still a lot of really nice station wagons (there, I said it !!!) in Germany, and most of those have a small turbodiesel for 120 mph sustained autobahn and 45 mpg. Maybe a dozen x5's in that two week time, all of which were diesels.