Latest Car News in India

BMW X1 rival Audi Q3 SUV launch this month

The smallest in the Q Series Audi SUVs – Audi Q3 is expected to be launched this month. Notably, India has been waiting and waiting for this car since long and specially after the Audi SUV was unveiled at the Auto Expo held in New Delhi in January. A lot of media reports suggest that Audi is all prepared for the launch and with it seems that BMW X1 will soon be getting its staunch rival in the form of the Q3. Notably, the Q3 is the smallest in the series and the other two biggies SUVs Audi Q5 and Audi Q7 are already available in India. The Audi Q3 price in India would land somewhere between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.

However, thinking of launching a car at this juncture when the market is not in a good shape would be challenging for the German car maker. High interest rates, already high petrol prices, and the rising input costs have all made the market much more challenging for all car makers. At such as time launching Q3 SUV in India will not be anything less than an uphill task for Audi. However, Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India seemed optimistic in various media reports and had reportedly meant to say that even after such dampening situations prevailing in the market, the car maker will be able to achieve its target of selling 8000 cars for 2012.

Notably, Audi has recently become the second largest selling premium car maker in India and with the expansion of its product base in India, the car maker hopes to climb to the number one position by overthrowing BMW. With Audi TT, new Audi A4 already in the stable and Q3 soon to be added, Audi thinks that it will then have a decent portfolio. The 2L TDi engine powered SUV will have a seven speed automatic gearbox with 174 bhp of power and 38.74 kgm of peak torque with Quattro.