SPY PICS: Audi sets the stage for Q6 SUV
Spy pix of a stretched Audi Q5 indicate a BMW X6 competitor may be on the cards for 2015Audi’s model proliferation shows no signs of slowing down. These most recent spy photos reportedly show the makings of a new SUV said to be dubbed Q6 and intended to compete with BMW’s X6 SAC (the company’s acronym for Sports Activity Coupe).
The Carparazzi snaps show what at first appears to be more or less a regular Q5, until you note the spliced-in section between front and rear doors that appears to add something like 80mm to the car’s body (and wheelbase) length.
What the test mule doesn’t show is what a forthcoming Q6 might look like. As we said the body, apart from the added length, looks just like a regular Q5. There’s certainly no suggestion at this stage of a rakish X6-style four-door SUV “coupe”.
Clearly there is something going on, but whether the test mule is the basis for an X6-style Audi, or simpler a stretched Q5 is hard to ascertain.
The spy pix can only be taken in the context of the rumours abounding of Audi’s plans for an X6 competitor that are suggesting the SUV “coupe” will not appear until 2015 or 2016. Talk of a possible Q6 goes back for some time when it was reported the car could be developed off the Porsche Cayenne (and VW Touareg) platform.
This is where the plot thickens. If this test mule does morph into a Q6 that would hardly be the case because the Q5 owes its origins to the smaller A4 sedan. Or the test mule could be built to deceive by concealing Cayenne/Touareg gubbins under a Q5 shell. Then again, the car identified as a Q6 by Carparazzi could actually be the smaller Q4 SUV — although that seems unlikely, in light of the added wheelbase of the mule. It's said that the Q4 will be developed off the Q5 along the same “coupe” lines as the BMW X6 and is due for launch in 2014 or 2015 to compete with the likes of Land Rover’s Evoque.
To go at least part of the way towards answering the question, we’ll need to wait until more indicative Q6 or Q4 mules are spotted on test.
— with Carparazzi
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