Q7 sales to double

Audi is very confident that its new Q7 will win plenty of buyers in Australia. That is despite the increasingly competitive market segment in which it sits – large SUVs above $70,000.

Underlying that confidence, born out of new technology and much improved fuel efficiency, is one fundamental fact: The old Q7 never had the potential market reach the new one does. Put it down to styling or resistance to a vehicle that arrived on the scene late and possibly not packaged as well as its rivals, but the Q7's sales have been inert over most of the eight plus years it has been on sale in Australia.

Yet Australia is the sixth largest market in the world for Q7. And the SUV is more popular here, proportionally, than the rest of the Audi brand put together. Australia is the 10th largest market for the full range of Audi models combined. That leads one to consider that Q7's slows sales were a global issue, rather than a local one.

No wonder then that Audi Australia MD Andrew Doyle believes the new model, which is due to go on sale in September, can outsell its predecessor by a decisive margin.

"We're doing about 135, 140 a month now so I believe we can more than double that, based on the current interest we've seen in the car," Doyle told motoring.com.au during the local launch of the new Q7 last week.

Over the eight full years Q7 ver1.0 has been on sale in Australia, its monthly sales rate has barely varied from roughly 110 units a month. It only dipped below 100 units once – to 92 – in 2010. Every other year it has averaged between 102 and 121 units per month. There has been hardly any sales growth during that time.

In contrast, the segment in which it sells has grown consistently with each passing year, from 15,673 units in 2011 to 20,145 units last year. For the first six months of 2015, the segment is at 10,647 sales, which amounts to 456 more vehicles sold than during the same period last year.

Unlike the previous several years however, the Q7's sales in 2015 have picked up considerably too. During the first six months of 2015, the Audi SUV has averaged 134 units in run-out. That's an impressive feat for a prestige SUV that is now significantly older than nearly all its rivals in the segment.

But viewed another way, it suggests that the first-generation Q7 has been an underachiever all along.

It's debatable as to whether the Q7 ver2.0 brings to market as much leading-edge technology – relatively speaking – as the new Volvo XC90, but Doyle is convinced that loyal Q7 buyers from the past will flock to the new one.

"There's nearly 12,000 people just in our car park of Q7s," he observed. "And I think there's a huge target market there for us work for. I think that what we've got with this product is the best in technology and the best combination now of lightweight materials with the practicality of seven seats."

What will help the new Q7 most, in the fight against the new XC90, in Doyle's opinion, is the Audi's known resale value and brand cachet.

"What this car also offers, and has proven in the past, is a very strong residual value. And I think that's really important in this segment."

In effect, the new Q7 can benefit on the one hand, from the brand image, resale value and ownership experience from the past, while snaring new buyers with all of those virtues, plus forward-looking technology and engineering.

Doubling sales with the new Q7 shouldn't be that hard then...