Audi rolls out sports utility vehicle SUV Q7

New Delhi, Sept 15: Rolling out its luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) 'Audi Q7' for the Indian customers, German car-maker Audi today said it may start assembling the vehicle at the Volkswagen plant likely to be set up in Andhra Pradesh by the end of next year.

''We can handle a large bulk of sales through imports only and presently there is no need for a manufacturing plant in India. The company is investigating for setting up an assembling plant in India, but the final decision will be taken on the kind of response we receive from the Indian customers,'' Audi's Executive Director for the Overseas region Andra Konsbruck told reporters here.

Talking about the performance of the luxury segment cars in India, Mr Konsbruck said that the segment is doing impressively well witnessing a sale of 2,500 cars last year and the figure expected to touch 30,000 in the coming ten years.

Audi Q7 is available in two engine formats with 4.2 litre V8 with FSI petrol direct injection which develops 257kV (350bhp) and achieves a maximum torque of 440 newton metres.

The 3.0 TDI six-cylinder engine features high performance of 171 kW (233 bhp).

The occupants will benefit from the comfort of incomparable spaciousness and a new dimension in versatility with 28 seating and loading configurations possible in Q7.

Up to seven occupants can be accomodated in three rows of seats.

The seats in second row are individually adjustable for fore/aft movement. If used as a five-seater the Q7 boasts a load capacity of 775 litres.

Priced at Rs 61 lakh, Audi Q7 is equipped with the standard MMI operating concept including other innovative driver assistance systems such as advanced parking system with optical guidance and the rear view camera and open sky system.

The company plans to sell 300 units by this year and double the sales figure by 2007.

''The launch of the Q7 is a key development for us and we expect it to accelerate sales growth for us across the region,'' Mr Konsbruck said.

The company is also planning to introduce its new models, RS4 and S8, in India the near future, to appeal to the sporty and progressive lifestyles of the sophisticated customers.

For these two models, advance bookings have already opened, but the vehicle will be released first for the European markets and later in India depending upon the market conditions.

Q7 model is the fourth car to be launched by Audi in the Indian market in a single year after it brought out A4, A6 and A8 models earlier.

Our profile comprises of sporty, progressive and sophisticated vehicles and we are targeting on the products, image, customer satisfaction and dealer network to expand our growth, Mr Konsbruck added.

Audi will invest around nine billion euros worlwide towards the product development and to set up manufacturing facilities.

The company sold 8,11,522 cars and 1,695,045 engines last year.

Achieving a growth of 8.6 per cent each year, the company expects to sell 8,80,000 thousand cars this year.

UNI