Luxurious off-roader – possibly based on Scout 4×4 underpinnings – is set to top Audi’s new-era line-up
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner has again hinted the firm is working on an electric off-roader to take on the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
As previously reported by Autocar, the German firm has been considering a new flagship 4×4 for several years, as such a machine would push into a new market segment.
While Audi has yet to officially acknowledge work on an off-roader, Döllner didn’t deny the prospect when asked about it during Audi’s annual media conference.
“There has always been speculation in the media on various products, and the good news is the Audi brand can do everything from an entry-level electric vehicle to sports cars all the way to rugged SUVs,” he said, adding that “in the future you can expect a lot from Audi”.
A luxurious off-roader would be particularly appealing to the vital US market and would fit into Audi’s new strategy of more localised products for that region, with a particular focus on SUVs.
That is best shown by the forthcoming Q9, pictured below, which the firm has confirmed will arrive later this year as Audi’s largest and more opulent SUV to date.
Döllner added: “At the moment, we are very excited about the Q9, and this is really a product developed for the US market. We’ve really listened to what customers there want, and for the first time will be launched in the US first, which really shows what ambitions we have there for our customers.”
It first emerged that Audi was considering a flagship 4×4 in 2023, when then design boss Marc Lichte suggested such a model would build neatly on the brand’s legacy of Quattro cars and tap into a highly profitable part of the market in which Audi was unrepresented.
“There is potential because there are only two premium players” in the segment, he said, “and I think there is a space for a third one.”
Lichte left Audi shortly after and was replaced by Massimo Frascella, whose role of shaping the Defender in his previous job at JLR reinforced speculation that Audi was gearing up to launch a similar car.
Launching a relatively low-volume model would seem at odds with Döllner’s wider objective to simplify the Audi line-up, but he previously said it remains important to have flagship cars that serve as technology showcases for the brand and can influence other models.
He said: “There is no niche banner; it’s just the opposite. It works perfectly to have a more focused line-up in the core and in addition to that have some niche models to build the brand and to also transfer new ideas from a niche segment into the core products. That works perfectly and this is part of our strategy.”
On the potential for a Defender-rivalling Audi 4×4, he said: “Don’t give up on that dream.”
Previously, it was thought that Audi’s luxury 4×4 could be aligned with the similarly conceived debut models from new Volkswagen Group brand Scout – the Traveler SUV and Terra pick-up – and built alongside them at its new factory in South Carolina.
Döllner told Autocar that the US’s new import tariffs have prompted Audi to consider building cars locally there, and this new 4×4 would seem a viable candidate for US production, given the popularity of such cars in the US.
“At a group level, we are right now discussing and investigating whether or not we should have a factory for Audi in the US,” he said. “But that’s dependent on a stable tariff situation and also on other regulatory boundary conditions that we would need to take [into consideration for] a decision like that.”
He added that it could be “logical” to build Audi models in an existing Volkswagen Group facility in the US but said: “The big question is if we want to have a specific Audi factory or not, and that decision is absolutely open and dependent on how we are we aligned with the US government.”
