bozack

yes. VW is the mother ship. Porsche had some hostile takeover or such via them.

Yeah, those guys may have heard rumors themselves. I don't see Audi coming out with something new considering theu have the Q5 already and if they did come out with something similair shaped it would probably based upon the same chassis as the Cayenne and Toureg to save costs..........


My guess..

maxusa

It seems odd to have a vehicle even smaller than Q5. The Q5 is a cross-over already. Just go to Avant or A3 next. Can someone educate me on the point of Q3?

bozack

correct
I could see them going off a A3 platform and doing a Q3 to compete with some of the smaller Utes like the Benz GLK (which is a C series platform). Their M series is a E class platform and the GL is like the Q7 and all it's own.

I could see Audi trying to go after the HOnda Pilot, Toyota Highlander market with all the green and gas efficiency hype going around. Since Americans don't belive in diesels I could see bringing a smaller better mileage tiny SUV.

Herbys

A Q6 doesn't sound too far fetched. The VW group is known for filling "in-between" spots between cars at is has only marginal costs for them and often captures a significant market portion (if you want an SUV but don't want a large SUV a Q5 won't cut it). And the fact that there's a VW and a Porsche in that space doesn't matter.
Brand loyalty is important, whereas corporation loyalty is almost non-existent, so if you want a truck by Audi but the Q7 is too large for you, a VW or a Porsche won't cut it.
VW has six cars in my country that fit the "compact" range (and they only differentiate in size, not in form factor) under the VW brand alone. Having only three SUVs between three brands might leave lots of space in between.
It might also be possible that the Q7 will become slightly larger (to resolve the third row and storage space problems in the current model) and they want to offer a slightly smaller alternative for those that would not want to go bigger.

maxusa

Sorry, I could not follow your logic too well. Benz GLK350 is a direct competitor of Q5, not Q3.

It seems that Audi AG continue to play its Bavarian neighbor, hence, the X1 copycat. However, C&D predicts that the nex gen X3 will grow some, distancing itself from a 5-inch shorter X1. I don't believe the Q5 will grow anytime soon.

If X1 marketing strategy is any indication, these baby-SUVs will be targeted at younger, urban, professional folk (20-30?). Then again, price-sensitive crowd can get more affordable baby-SUVs such as Tiguan, RAV4, CR-V, Grand Vitara, etc. ($28-32K USD).

The Q3 appears a bit odd. I guess we will wait and see how BMW X1 sales pan out.