The upcoming next-generation Audi Q7 has been spied testing near some European beach. Unfortunately, this new Q7 will not be released in 2014. Reportedly, the flagship Audi’s SUV will make its way to the markets some time in 2015.
The reason for the delay has been a consensus among the company’s designers that the original design, which was slated to hit the markets as the updated Q7 in 2014, is a tad too aggressive. Hence, there will be an unavoidable delay as they try and make tweaks to the styling cues to mellow down the Q7’s design statement.
There is another reason for the delay in the vehicle’s introduction. It is known that the Q7 will squat on Volkswagen’s 3rd-Generation SUV platform. This platform has been derived from the car-based MLB architecture. In a nutshell, the MLB architecture is Volkswagen Group’s version of the trick that numerous manufacturers have turned to in recent times. The architecture will see a lot of products sharing quite a few parts, and thus bringing down overall costs.
The next-gen Audi Q7 will definitely be lighter by around three hundred kilograms, thanks to the use of aluminium and composite materials in the MLB architecture. Due to the lighter weight, we also expect a downsizing of the engine options to the size of 2 Litres as the smallest one. We expect a couple of options in the 3.0 Litre range, one being the TDI mill and the other one the TFSI mill. The top-end variant will have the 4.0 Litre TFSI powerplant. We also feel there could be another V8 powerplant as an option.
With all those advanced and lightweight architecture as well as the hybrid option, we feel the original gas-guzzling Q7 is undergoing a makeover to become more eco-friendly.
Source – AutoEvolution