(click for bigger pics)

We ambushed the upcoming Audi crossover wagon on a secret late-night test drive earlier this week. Ignore the phony emblems: this is in fact the new Q7.

Based on the design features that we've seen on Audi's Pikes Peak concept, the Q7 will be riding on a modified Touareg/Cayenne platform, lengthened to accommodate seven passengers in three rows of seats.

The Q7 is expected to be launched as a 2006 model, and will be powered by a 4.2-liter V-8. A diesel option is expected for the 2007 model year.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7806

More info (maybe?):

Audi's first sport-utility will be called the Q7, an Audi AG executive said Thursday at the Paris Motor Show.

"The letter Q denotes a new type family within our company, alongside A, S and RS," says Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the Audi AG board of management. The 7 indicates that it is positioned between the A6 and A8, Winterkorn says.

Audi will launch the Q7 in early 2006. The production version will be based on the Pikes Peak quattro concept study that Audi had unveiled at the 2003 Detroit auto show.

The five-door, seven-seater Q7 will be built on the same platform as the Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne SUVs. It will be equipped with Audi's 4.2-liter V-8 engine and feature three rows of seating.

The introduction of the Q7 could lead to the end of the Audi allroad quattro vehicle, which is based on the Audi A6 wagon and is an attempt by the automaker to provide its customers with an SUV-like product.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=100891

Audi wants a piece of the action in the miniscule but growing market for U.S. diesels.

The automaker will offer a diesel-powered vehicle -- probably the Q7 SUV -- in the 2007 model year.

Equipping the Q7 with a diesel engine makes sense. The seven-seat SUV will be based on the same platform as the Volkswagen Touareg, which is sold here with an optional diesel engine.

An Audi spokesperson confirmed plans to offer a diesel.

Axel Mees, the former head of Audi of America Inc., first disclosed the strategy before the automaker said two weeks ago that Mees was fired.

The Q7, Audi's first SUV, is based on the Pikes Peak quattro concept shown at the 2003 Detroit auto show. Audi will introduce a gasoline-powered version in 2006, followed by a diesel version.

Audi will add diesel engines slowly to the rest of its lineup, Mees said.

Audi's sister brand, Volkswagen, has most of the diesel car sales in the United States.

VW sold 25,700 diesel-powered vehicles in the United States through October.

Typically, sales spike every time gasoline prices surge.

Mercedes-Benz began selling its E320 CDI sedan in May, the first Mercedes diesel sold in the United States since 1999. Also, a diesel-powered Jeep Liberty is due before year end.

A U.S. Department of Energy study says diesels could capture 2 percent to 4 percent of the U.S. light-vehicle market by 2008.

Audi of America sparingly offered diesel-powered models in the past.

In 1979, the Audi 5000 had a diesel engine with a manual transmission. Audi also offered a turbocharged diesel with automatic transmission in the 1982 and 1983 Audi 5000.

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101321

And for reference, this is the Pikes Peak concept: http://www.audiworld.com/news/03/nai.../content.shtml

 

What the hell iz that, a taillight?

 

Not very pretty, is it!

 

There's a bunch of red vinyl on the quarter panel and then some of the light on the tailgate is masked over with black vinyl.

 

this looks production ready, aside from the extra tape. the tail lights look to have extra red tape above and below the actual light cover to disguise it, but you can tell they're going to look like the rest of the new audi range.

 

Audi did a very nice job covering up that front end. If the side and rear ends didn't give it away, I'd think this was a future Subaru or Toyota design.

 

It looks like an oversized Toyota Matrix.

 

But people will buy it because it's an audi, and they will make some serious ads with a solemn guy announcing how its quattro all wheel drive sends power to all the wheels and grip the pavement of the shopping mall, and at the same time how it's over clustereted multifunctiong dashboard will be able to keep your mind away from the grocery shopping, highway congestion and enjoy the music, preferrably with an opposite sex on your side. And the high sitting will make you forget that you have a burnt out tail light.

And so on.

 

Is this the vehicle Nissan is suing them over, for using the 'Q'?

 

That's really funny. Seriously.

But.. at least my 6thG Accord lets me know when I have a brake light out