Audi Q8 confirmed, or is it the Audi Q9?

Audi development boss, Wolfgang Durheimer, has confirmed a new, bigger ‘Q’ to sit above the Q7. But will it be the Audi Q8 or Audi Q9?

We’ve long wondered when Audi would get round to expanding its range of ‘Q’ badged SUVs to include sporty coupe SUVs as well as a new range-topper bigger than the Q7.

But Audi Chairman chairman, Rupert Stadler, said back in 2011 that Audi was inclined to ignore the sector above the Q7 and instead concentrate on more compact SUVs. Which makes sense for the European market, but does it makes sense for China and the USA?

It seems Audi has now had a rethink and Wolfgang Durheimer, Audi’s development boss, has told Autocar that they can go bigger than the Q7 and, as Audi already has the biggest SUV in the VW Group, he sees no reason to change that.

That will mean Audi building a new ‘Q’ based on the same (extended) platform that will underpin the Bentley Falcon SUV and the Lamborghini Urus – as well as using the MLB platform for the next Q7 – and, the common wisdom seems to suggest, branding it the Audi Q8. But can that be right?

We’ve long believed that Audi are planning to emulate BMW by using their odd-numbered Q cars as the traditional SUV offering and using even numbers for their ‘Coupe’ SUVs. For example  we’re expecting a coupe SUV version of the Q5 to be the Q6 and the coupe version of the Q7 to be the Q8. So if Audi are going to build an SUV that’s bigger than the Q7, wouldn’t it make sense to badge that as the new Audi Q9?

That would then leave room for a coupe version of the Q7 to become a sporty coupe Q8 to take on cars like the Range Rover Sport and let the Q9 fight it out with the full-sized 2013 Range Rover as well other offerings from within the VW group.

But whatever badge it gets, it seems Audi are going to not only fill in the gaps in their ‘Q’ range, but add a new model above the Q7.