Audi’s prestige Q7 SUV: sold out before it’s even hit the showrooms
Business Car Manager: Editor’s Blog
THE Audi Q7 is an amazing phenomenon. This gargantuan luxury SUV, with seven seat accommodation, was first launched in the teeth of fierce anti-SUV sentiment – and was an instant success. Its appeal was as huge as its size – successful entrepreneurs and business owners found a car that in an instant gave them a prestige car which could also carry a family and their kids’ friends. Without being an MPV.
Now there’s a revised version out with improved and more efficient engines – see our news story Big Audi downsizes on fuel consumption. And it’s proving no less popular.
In fact, it’s so popular that the order book for 2010 is full. What? Sounds impossible, the car’s not even in the dealerships yet. I checked with Manchester Audi: yes, they said, November delivery at the earliest.
I’d picked up the information from a conversation with Synergy Automotive’s Paul Parkinson on the business contact website LinkedIn.
Paul Parkinson had written this intriguing entry: “Audi UK Q7 order book full for 2010. What if a premium branded all-new 4×4, was available for summer delivery at less than Discovery money?”
The entry continued: “If a customer placed an order today, Audi are quoting Jan 2011 delivery…Looks like Porsche will have a good launch, new Touraeg not due till September, Discovery 4 overpriced, similar story with Range Rover Sport. Already switching customers from the above to the all new Porsche Cayenne, with the group’s new clean 3.0 V6 240bhp diesel engine. Have to say they are pleased and surprised…”
Perhaps it’s not unexpected that Paul is having some success. Buyers who want a premium SUV (and not necessarily the Q7’s seven seats) will probably have either not considered a sports car manufacturer such as Porsche – or assumed it’s too expensive. But the diesel is less than a top-end Discovery.
The new Porsche Cayenne goes on sale from May 29. There’s a freshened exterior; it’s 48mm longer; and a 240bhp 3.0-litre V6 engine offering 550Nm of pulling power but 20% lower fuel consumption (38.2mpg). Prices for the Cayenne Diesel are
