Audi Designer Hints at a Defender, G-Wagen Fighter
A new interview with Design Chief Marc Lichte indicates that Audi’s Dakar adventures are about more than playing in the sand.
In my recent post about a possible all-electric R8 replacement, I wrote that while a new supercar would be great, I’d really like to see a rugged 4×4 offering. Well, as it turns out, I might have a few allies in Ingolstadt. Because in a new interview with our friends over at Autocar, Head of Audi Design Marc Lichte revealed that the company is looking to develop a competitor for the wildly popular Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Here are a couple of the most relevant bits from that conversation:
There is potential because there are only two premium players in this particular segment, and I think there is a space for a third one.
If you think about the history of Audi – the rallying success in the ’80s with the Quattro and Sport Quattro – it’s easy to explain why Audi needs a car like this. And if we talk about Quattro 2.0, it matches even more.
So maybe all the time and treasure spent in Dakar wasn’t just about playing in the sand after all. At this point, the brass hasn’t officially given the green light to the project, meaning the idea might very well go nowhere. But given the exploding popularity of the hardcore off-road segment, it’s hard to see how getting into the game could be anything but a good move for the Four Rings. Plus, an all-electric drivetrain would be an easy way to distinguish the Audi from the Rover and Benz.
In a telling move, the Volkswagen Group bought the rights to International Harvester’s venerated Scout nameplate back in 2017, and two Scout-branded electric 4×4 models are currently in development. So it’s not too difficult to imagine that there could be some inter-umbrella platform sharing, similar to what we’ve seen with the Porsche Taycan and the e-tron GT. That said, it would also make sense to give Audi a little more freedom to boost performance, as the Scout marque is slated to be more utilitarian in both design and price.
According to the Autocar article, the Scout subdivision is expected to produce as many as 100,000 vehicles per year, and it’s speculated that an additional 50,000 Audi-branded units would also be built on the lines. While there’s no timeframe for an Audi-branded off-road bruiser to arrive at dealers, the smart money says we’ll be looking at sometime around 2027. Of course, there’s no telling what the future holds, and ongoing delays to Audi’s new electric flagship could make a new product line seem like overreach. But the prospect of a burly Audi 4×4 looks strong — so stay tuned.
Image Source: Audi