Europeans want more 7-seat Q7s February 20, 2006
Audi has learned that Europeans want more seats in their SUVs.
Pre-launch research led the German automaker to believe that fewer than 30 percent of the potential customers for its Q7 premium SUV would ask for versions with a third row of seats.
But more than half of the 11,000 orders for the Q7 have been for variants with room for seven in a three-row configuration, said Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi’s head of concept development.
“That is something we didn’t expect,” he said at a recent press event here for the Q7.
European automakers only recently have added the option of a third row in SUVs. In Germany, just eight automakers – Cadillac, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, SsangYong, Toyota and Volvo – offer SUVs with three rows of seats.
BMW’s redesigned X5 is expected to have three rows when it is launched in 2007.
“SUVs haven’t had the option until now. It might suggest there is a larger interest in three rows in Europe than we initially thought,” said Frank van Meel, Audi’s head of technical development for the Q7. “Sometimes a customer doesn’t know if they will use it until they see it.”
Audi expects 80 percent of the 35,000 Q7s it aims to sell in the US will have three rows of seats.
- Posted in : Uncategorized, Audi
- Author : Bullet
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