Audi Q7 e-tron "highly likely" for Oz

Audi plans to invest more marketing muscle in its e-tron plug-in hybrid strategy following the local launch of the next-generation Q7.

According to Audi Australia's General Manager for Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf, the new Q7 will arrive here "late next year".

Asked whether the fuel-saving e-tron variant would join the range in Australia, the Audi exec admitted it was "likely," but not until later. Given the timing for the conventional models, expect the e-tron to arrive perhaps as late as the second or third quarter of 2016.

"It's certainly something that we think will be well accepted in Australia," Ms Burgdorf told motoring.com.au during the international launch program for the new TT.

Audi Australia's first plug-in hybrid model will be the A3 Sportback e-tron, which goes on sale here next March, and the company has confirmed the Q7 e-tron will be its next electrified model.

"We've got a job to do, obviously, to launch the technology with the A3; it's completely new, it's all about assuring customers that e-tron is not a scary technology and that it's something that they can use on a daily basis and effectively not change their driving behaviour if they don't want to.

"The A3 e-tron will blaze that trail, but it's highly likely the Q7 e-tron will follow."

The new Q7 is not anticipated to make its debut at the Paris motor show next month, and nor will the new R8 super-coupe.

Markus Siewert, Audi's Technical Project Manager for the new TT, told motoring.com.au that 2014 was the year of the TT, hinting that now the new coupe has been officially launched, the new TT Roadster is the only remaining Audi model of any consequence to debut before the end of this year.

Audi's next-generation TT Roadster will make its world debut at the Paris motor show on October 2, but the Q7 – being an SUV – seems more likely to break cover at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2015. Word on the grapevine is that the new R8 could put in an appearance at Geneva a month or two later.

The new A4 is anticipated to be launched globally during 2015, but nothing has been officially confirmed yet and we definitely won't see it in Australia next year.

"It's not due next year for us," Ms Burgdorf said. "Next year will be TT [in February, with TTS to follow later] and Q7."

Audi's local product range is in for a fair shake-up over the 12 to 18 months. The long-awaited S1 Sportback will be presented to local journalists within a few weeks. Burgdorf couldn't explain why the high-performance A1 variant had been delayed months beyond the July release date originally planned, but RHD supply appears to have been a factor, since other right-hook markets were similarly affected.

A facelifted A1 is due in the second half of next year, but will be pre-empted by an updated Q3 in the second quarter of 2015, with A6 and A7 models also reaching the local market in the first half of 2015, including S6/S7 and RS 6/7 variants.

Fans of the TT RS will be disappointed to hear that the five-cylinder variant – with more power and torque – has been confirmed for production by none other than Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, but will be unlikely to reach the general public in anything less than two years.

The rush of new models will set in train a campaign to overtake BMW's sales in Australia during 2016. And the new A4 has a very important part to play in that.

"In 2016 we'd like to be nipping [at BMW's] heels," Ms Burgdorf acknowledged. "We're not in the market to stay number three forever, but it needs to be done sustainably and it needs to be done with customer service in mind."