Audi Q2 & Q4 safely in Audi’s badge cupboard

It seems Audi has gained the rights to the Q2 and Q4 badges from Alfa Romeo as the German brand works to extend its range of crossovers and SUVs.

We know there will be an Audi Q2 arriving in 2016, because Audi told us so. But what we didn’t know is how Audi were going to manage to brand their new crossover Q2 – rather than Q1 – when Alfa Romeo owns the Q2 name.

Not only is the Q2 moniker Alfa’s property, so too is the equally desirable – certainly for Audi – Q4 badge, which has presented Audi with something of a problem when their whole crossover/SUV nomenclature is based on the ‘Q’ badge. But it looks like there’s been a resolve.

Georg Kacher – a man who knows his way round the hidden alleys and pathways of the motor industry – reports in Car Magazine that Audi has done a deal with Alfa Romeo, and the Q2 and Q4 monikers are now nicely tucked up in Ingolstadt, all ready to adorn the next wave of Audi’s butch models.

That explains why the car we thought would be the Q1 is actually going to be the Q2, and leaves Audi free to fill in the gap between the Q3 and Q5 with a Q4 coupe SUV.

It also means we’re likely to see a new small urban crossover from Audi at some point, appropriately badged Audi Q1.

Isn’t it nice when a plan comes together? Although how much it cost Audi we wouldn’t like to contemplate.