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19/08/2005: "Audi Q7 SUV Shown Undisguised"

Audi’s slow stripping of its maiden entry in the lucrative premium SUV market, the Q7, has finally come to an end as the house of Ingolstadt has released the first fully undisguised images of the imposing off-roader, even though the car’s official world premiere is still about a month away - it will happen on September’s Frankfurt auto show.

Besides an uncanny resemblance to the Pikes Peak Quattro concept, the photos reveal a vehicle distinctly larger than its direct competitors, the BMW X5 and the Mercedes M-Class. Rising on a modified version of the VW Touareg/Porsche Cayenne platform, the Q7’s wheelbase is however some seven inches longer than its sister cars’, allowing for another distinction in comparison to its premium German rivals: seven-passenger seating.

A 345-hp version of Audi’s corporate 4.2-liter V8 will initially be the car’s only engine choice, with a 3.2-liter V6 option to follow soon thereafter. Both units employ the VW Group’s FSI direct-injection system, and are mated to a six-speed automatic driving all four wheels full-time.

The Q7 is expected to arrive in U.S. showrooms on the first semester of 2006, with pricing that is, according to Audi, “roughly in line with the premium SUV segment.”

(this article was taken from speedtv.com)