German luxury carmaker Audi will launch its latest sports utility vehicle Q5 in India in June, besides giving a facelift to its existing sedan ‘A6’.
“The only SUV in India from our stable is Q7, which is doing extremely good even in the present situation. But still some people prefer a smaller SUV and because of this, we have decided to offer Q5 in the Indian market,” Audi spokesperson told. Q5 was launched in Europe in November 2008, with four versions in both petrol and diesel engines. It is priced between 38,000 Euro and 50,000 Euro in Germany.
The Audi Q5 is a compact crossover SUV which was released by German automaker Audi for the 2009 model year.Tt is built using the new Audi MLP platform (Modular Longitudinal Platform) which debuted in the 2007 Audi A5 coupe. The Q5 is be the second Audi model in the “Q” range, after the full-size Q7. The Q5 slots above the future Q3, which will be based on the Volkswagen Tiguan.
“In June this year, we will launch only two variants of Q5 in India, homologation of which are currently on. These vehicles will be sold there as a completely-built-unit (CBU) and will be exported from the company’s Ingolstadt facility,” the official said.
The company, which has committed an investment of 30 million Euro till 2015 in India, would introduce the car with 3.0 litre TDI (diesel) and 2.0 litre TFSI (petrol) engines for Indian consumers.
Audi sold 350 units of Q7 in 2008 in India, the spokesperson said, “which is the highest selling figure in its class in the market”. It sold a total of 1,050 units in India last year.
Besides, the company would also give a facelift to its existing sedan A6 for the Indian market. “It will be launched even before Q5 will be introduced,” the spokesperson said.
The other models, that the company sells in the Indian market includes sedan — A4 and A8 — and sports cars — TT and R8. It assembles A4 and A6 in the Aurangabad facility where group firms Volkswagen and Skoda also manufactures their cars.
Source: Economic Times