Audi Q3 released ahead of Shanghai Auto Show

China is Audi’s biggest market in terms of sales, especially as they cleared sales of over 220,000 vehicles in 2010 based on a line up of three locally made cars (Q5, A4L, A6) and 5 imports (A3, A5, A8, Q7, TT). The Q3 will be having its premier in Shanghai rather than New York or Frankfurt as the the demand for luxury crossovers in China is reaching fever pitch with BMW, Mercedes and other manufacturers planning to offer locally assembled products.

The Q3 will be getting similar engines to its big brother the Q5 – a 1680bhp 2.0 turbo engine in FWD or AWD mode, or a 2.0T offering 208bhp in AWD mode only. It’s unlikely that the Q3 will get the diesel engine that is being offered in Europe and other countries.

The Q3 is based on the VW Tiguan platform and will measure in 4390mm x 1830 x 1600mm with the car having a curb weight of 1500kg for the front wheel drive model, Audi have introduced an alluminium hood and tailgate on the Q3 to save weight.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.