Sporty to be the next SUV wave

Both Audi and Mercedes-Benz will finally counter BMW’s X6 SUV in the next 18 months with coupe-style soft-roaders of their own.

The development of Audi’s Q6 and Benz’s MLC mean that BMW’s oft-derided but solid-selling swoopy SUV won’t have it all its own way anymore.

But BMW’s two German foes aren’t stopping there; with Audi also planning a sportier Q2 off the A3’s MQB architecture and Benz is ready to punch with its A-Class-based GLA SUV, too.

While Audi’s planned model rollout got a shakeup with the arrival of new board member, Wolfgang Durheimer, Benz’s is still on track with both the MLC and the GLA within a year of hitting the streets.

Sources insist the 2014 MLC will be heavily based on the current M-Class (which is also a machine that is hurrying towards a rushed facelift, with senior design officials unhappy with its looks).

In fact, so few spy shots of it exist because it has been largely tested inside current M-Class bodyshells, with the only hints to prove its existence being wider rear tracks and some cladding hiding the rear bumper area and wheel well.

Think of the MLC as the CLS of the M-Class family. It will not only have a swoopier coupe-style body, but its cabin will be split by a full-length centre console as well, rendering it capable of only carrying four people.

Up front, Benz’s typical array of high-output four-cylinder engines won’t play much of a role here, with Mercedes preferring thumping V8 and more economical V6 petrol and diesel engines. There will, of course, be an AMG version with the 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 powering all four wheels.

Even closer to production is the GLA. Buoyed by the acclamation it received for the CLA sedan in the backrooms of the Detroit Motor Show, Benz insiders are already extremely confident its new, smaller SUV will hit the mark, too.

Unlike the current GLK, the GLA will be built in right-hand drive. It will also be sold as a four- or a five-seater and will have the upcoming A45 AMG’s powertrain almost from the start of production, in the first quarter of 2014.

To counter that, Audi’s Q2 and Q6 are believed to have received Mr Durheimer’s approval and should be shown this year.

Audi showed its Crosslane Coupe at last year’s Paris Motor Show and Mr Durheimer admitted that the concept “Showed the direction we are thinking about in that sporty SUV area”.

“It clearly demonstrated how we think a sportier SUV could look like,” he told motoring.com.au.

“If we do it systematically there is potential for one each (from the Q3, Q5 and Q7 models),” he said, “But we are not following a solid rule.”

That explanation from the ex-Bentley boss who has become noted for his product development skills is believed to be because of the initial absence of a Q4 in the pipeline.

Business cases for the small, MQB-based Q2 and the larger Q6, based off the next generation Q7, were already well in train by the time of Audi’s late 2012 senior management reshuffle and withstood significant alterations.

The Q2 is believed to sit beneath the Q3 and will be closer in overall length to the current A1 five-door hatch. It will be another MQB machine, even though the A1 isn’t (it’s based off the existing Volkswagen Polo) and its layout could also be seen as a pointer to the next-generation A1.

It will also be light enough to run the full gamut of the A1’s engine family, so that means 1.2-litre, direct-injection, turbocharged four-cylinder engines with cylinder deactivation as well as the more powerful 1.4-litre mills.

Inside, the Q2 is being set up as a strict four seater, with folding rear seats to maximize what promises to be fairly limited luggage space, compromised by a swooping rear roofline.

Its off-road ability will be limited, understandably, as it will be a predominantly front-drive machine, with an electronic rear differential fitted on high-end versions.

While the Q2 is well underway, the Q6 is believed to be a favourite of Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler because of its potential to both attack BMW and to return bigger profits.

Unlike the BMW X6, though, the Q6 won’t be simply a rebodied version of the Q7. Mr Stadler is believed to be keen to ensure the Q6 follows the A5’s example and straddles the interior size gap between the Q5 and the Q7 as well as offering a more aggressive look.

While Benz is rushing the MLC and the GLA into production, the Q6 is unlikely to make it before early 2015. That delay is entirely because it will have to wait for next year’s all-new Q7 both for its MLB architecture and to ensure the more conservatively styled five-door has at least a year of clean running before the Q6 muddies the waters.

“The next Q7 (in 2014) is very important to us and a sexier version of the standard model is definitely on the books,” another source told us.

“The size can be varied because with that architecture, it makes no difference whether it’s Q5- or Q7-sized because it’s the same architecture, but Q7-sized is more likely.”

It still smacks as odd that our sources insist there are no plans for a Q4 (even though Audi has registered the name) to sit between the Q3 and Q5.

“Cars like that are lower volume than a Q5 or a Q7,” our source admitted. “You can have lower volume with a Q6, because the buyers take a lot more unique options we can recover cost from. With something the size of a Q4, they don’t do that.”

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