Tag Archives: Audi

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Audi revealed the interior of the Q9

There’s a certain expectation that comes with a new Audi flagship. Usually, it arrives wrapped around horsepower figures, Nürburgring lap times, or some fresh interpretation of “Vorsprung durch Technik.” But the upcoming Audi Q9 appears ready to redefine the brand’s idea of progress altogether.

Because while Audi hasn’t yet revealed the powertrain lineup for its first full-size SUV, it’s already made one thing abundantly clear: the Q9 isn’t being sold as a performance machine. It’s being sold as a place to be.

And honestly? That may be the smartest luxury-car decision Audi has made in years.

The Q9 enters a segment dominated by rolling fortresses like the Range Rover, BMW X7, and Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class—vehicles that long ago realized wealthy buyers care just as much about atmosphere as acceleration. Audi’s answer is a three-row SUV that treats its interior less like a cockpit and more like a high-end lounge.

That starts with sheer space. Audi is offering the Q9 with either six or seven seats, but the real showpiece is the optional business-class-style middle row. Instead of a bench, buyers can spec two individual power-adjustable captain’s chairs with ventilation built directly into both the cushion and backrest. It’s the sort of feature that sounds suspiciously unnecessary until you experience it during a six-hour motorway haul.

Even the front seats lean harder into comfort than aggression. Sure, Audi still calls them “sports seats plus,” but they come equipped with massage and ventilation functions designed more for decompressing than corner carving. The message is subtle but unmistakable: this is an SUV for devouring continents, not apexes.

The Q9’s cabin tech also feels notably different from Audi’s recent obsession with screen count. Instead of overwhelming occupants with digital clutter, the focus here is sensory immersion. The updated Bang & Olufsen 4D sound system doesn’t just play music—it attempts to physically involve you in it. Seat-mounted actuators allow occupants to literally feel bass and rhythm through the seats themselves, while Audi’s Interaction Light stretches across the dashboard and syncs ambient lighting effects to whatever track is playing.

It could’ve sounded gimmicky. Instead, it sounds like Audi finally understands what modern luxury buyers actually want: mood.

Then there are the doors. Yes, really.

For the first time in an Audi, every door is electrically powered. Open them through the key fob, the infotainment system, the brake pedal, or even the seatbelt buckle. It’s a feature that initially sounds like peak overengineering until you consider the audience. Parents juggling strollers, executives climbing out in tight parking garages, or anyone carrying enough shopping bags to qualify as a logistics operation may suddenly find themselves wondering why every luxury SUV doesn’t work this way.

More importantly, Audi built genuine functionality into the system. Surround sensors can stop a door from opening into obstacles—or even detect approaching cyclists. It’s luxury tech with an actual purpose beyond showroom theatrics.

The panoramic roof continues that philosophy. Measuring roughly 1.5 square meters, it uses switchable transparency technology that allows individual sections of the glass to turn opaque at the touch of a button. No traditional sunshade necessary. It blocks UV rays, reflects infrared heat, and automatically frosts itself when parked to prevent outsiders from peering in. In upper trims, integrated LED lighting turns the roof itself into part of the ambient lighting system.

And while the Q9 clearly aims for technological sophistication, Audi wisely avoids turning the interior into a cold science experiment. Materials matter here. Wool upholstery blended with alpaca fibers, Dinamica microfiber, open-pore wood trim, matte finishes, and carefully coordinated color palettes suggest Audi designers spent more time studying boutique hotels than consumer electronics.

That restraint may end up being the Q9’s greatest strength.

Luxury interiors across the industry have increasingly become exercises in visual overload—giant displays, piano-black fingerprints, and enough RGB lighting to resemble a gaming PC. The Q9 sounds refreshingly calmer. Audi describes the cabin as a “sanctuary,” which is admittedly the sort of corporate language usually reserved for wellness retreats and overpriced spas. Yet the details suggest the company might actually mean it.

Of course, Audi still hasn’t shown us everything. Powertrains, chassis specifications, and performance figures remain under wraps ahead of the Q9’s official debut in Summer 2026. But maybe that’s fitting. For once, the numbers feel secondary.

The real story of the Q9 isn’t what happens when you floor it.

It’s what happens when you close the door.

Source: Audi

News

Audacious Automotive Reinvents the Quattro

If you’re the sort of enthusiast who thinks the best ideas from the 1980s were quietly abandoned in favor of touchscreens and torque-vectoring algorithms, then this one’s going to hit you right in the chest. The Audi Quattro—the box-flared, rally-bred icon that defined all-wheel-drive performance—is back. Sort of. And it’s angrier, louder, and packing a supercharged V8.

This isn’t a skunkworks project from Audi, though. Instead, it comes from a British startup with a name that sounds like it belongs on the back of a Le Mans prototype: Audacious Automotive. Their mission? Answer a question nobody at Ingolstadt ever officially asked: What if the Quattro never died?

A Quattro That Time Forgot

At the center of it all is Mac Zaglewski, a sculptor and restorer who clearly doesn’t believe in half measures. His creation isn’t a restomod in the usual sense. It’s what he calls a “continuation”—a parallel-universe Quattro that evolved naturally into the modern era.

Underneath the retro skin sits the bones of a Audi RS4 B7. That means a proper mechanical setup: a longitudinal engine, a rear-biased Torsen all-wheel-drive system, and—crucially—a manual gearbox. In other words, everything that modern performance cars have been quietly abandoning.

And yes, the engine. The original Quattro’s warbling five-cylinder turbo is gone, replaced by a 4.2-liter V8. Not just any V8, but one that’s been force-fed a supercharger to deliver a claimed minimum of 600 horsepower. That’s nearly 200 more than the donor RS4 and about three times what early Quattros were working with. Progress, it seems, has its perks.

Analog Soul, Modern Backbone

Zaglewski’s rejection of newer platforms like the Audi RS3 says a lot about what this car is trying to be. The RS3’s Haldex-based, front-biased all-wheel drive and automatic-only setup simply don’t fit the brief. This project is about tactility—about the kind of mechanical conversation between driver and machine that’s increasingly filtered out in modern cars.

The RS4 platform, by contrast, offers a sweet spot: modern rigidity and composure, but with an old-school feel. It’s the kind of chassis that still expects you to do some of the driving yourself.

Lighter, Wilder, Meaner

Visually, the car leans heavily into its rally heritage, taking cues from the outrageous Audi Sport Quattro S1. Expect swollen arches, aggressive ducting, and a stance that looks ready to attack a gravel stage at full boost.

And those ducts? They’re not for show. Every intake and opening serves a purpose, feeding air where it’s needed for cooling and performance. Form follows function here, just as it did in the Group B era.

The body itself is a mix of steel and aluminum for the first commission, with carbon fiber planned for future builds. The result is a weight saving of at least 250 kilograms compared to the RS4 donor. Combine that with the extra power, and you’ve got a car that should feel explosively quick in a way the original Quattro could only dream of.

Built, Not Manufactured

Each car will be individually commissioned, starting at £350,000—and that’s before you even supply the donor cars. It’s an eye-watering number, sure, but this isn’t a production car. It’s coachbuilt, bespoke, and deeply engineered.

There’s also the small matter of sacrificing classic Quattros to make it happen. Zaglewski is quick to point out that they’re not tearing apart pristine examples. Instead, they’re rescuing cars that would otherwise require unrealistic levels of restoration—giving them a second life rather than a slow death.

What Audacious Automotive is building isn’t just a tribute. It’s a philosophical argument on four wheels. In an era where performance is increasingly defined by software updates and drive modes, this reborn Quattro doubles down on something more elemental: mechanical depth, driver involvement, and just enough madness to make it all worthwhile.

It may not be an official continuation, but in spirit? This might be the Quattro that never stopped evolving.

Source: Autocar

News

Audi’s Electric 4×4 Dream Isn’t Dead Yet

Audi has always flirted with the edges of its own identity. It builds supercars, it builds sensible crossovers, it builds everything in between—but one thing it’s never quite committed to is a proper, mud-slinging, ladder-frame (or at least convincingly rugged) off-roader. That may be about to change.

At Audi’s annual media conference, CEO Gernot Döllner did everything short of confirming it outright: Ingolstadt is, once again, circling the idea of a fully electric luxury 4×4 aimed squarely at the establishment—namely the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class. And while the company line remains carefully noncommittal, the subtext is loud and clear: Audi wants in.

“There has always been speculation,” Döllner said, in the kind of statement that usually precedes a reveal by about 18 months. More telling, though, was his framing of Audi’s breadth: from entry-level EVs to sports cars to “rugged SUVs.” That last category has always felt like a missing tooth in the brand’s otherwise polished smile.

This isn’t a new idea. The notion of a flagship Audi 4×4 has been floating around since at least 2023, when then–design boss Marc Lichte pointed out the obvious: in a segment dominated by two premium heavyweights, there’s room—and profit—for a third. Audi, despite its quattro heritage, has never truly capitalized on that lineage in the hardcore off-road space. Instead, it’s spent decades making all-wheel-drive cars that look adventurous but rarely venture far beyond a gravel driveway.

The timing now, however, feels different. Audi is deep into its electric transition, and an EV off-roader offers something more than just another body style—it’s an opportunity to redefine capability. Instant torque, precise motor control, and software-defined drivetrains could give Audi a technical edge, even if it lacks the decades of off-road credibility its rivals trade on.

There’s also a strategic angle, and it’s spelled U-S-A.

Döllner made no secret of Audi’s renewed focus on the American market, where big, expensive SUVs aren’t just popular—they’re practically a requirement. The upcoming Q9, set to become the brand’s largest and most luxurious SUV yet, is being developed with U.S. buyers front of mind and will even launch there first. That alone signals a shift in priorities for a company that historically designed from Europe outward.

An electric off-roader would slot neatly into that playbook. It’s the kind of halo product that resonates in the U.S., where image and capability go hand in hand, even if most examples will spend their lives commuting between Whole Foods and a ski lodge.

And then there’s the production question. With shifting tariffs and geopolitical pressures complicating imports, Audi is actively exploring the idea of building cars locally in the United States. A niche, high-margin model like a luxury electric 4×4 could justify that investment—especially if it shares bones with other Volkswagen Group projects, like the upcoming Scout-branded SUV and pickup being prepped for a South Carolina factory.

Still, there’s an apparent contradiction here. Döllner has also been vocal about simplifying Audi’s lineup, trimming complexity, and focusing on core models. So where does a low-volume, high-cost off-roader fit into that vision?

Paradoxically, it fits perfectly.

As Döllner himself put it, these kinds of “niche” vehicles aren’t distractions—they’re incubators. They build brand image, showcase new technology, and allow ideas to trickle down into the mainstream lineup. Think of it less as a side project and more as a rolling laboratory with leather seats and a six-figure price tag.

And perhaps that’s the most compelling reason to believe this thing is real. Audi doesn’t just need another SUV—it needs a statement. Something that says its electric future isn’t just about efficiency and screens, but about capability, presence, and maybe even a bit of attitude.

For now, the company remains coy. No name, no timeline, no official green light. Just a carefully chosen line from the CEO himself: “Don’t give up on that dream.”

In the world of automotive corporate speak, that’s about as close to a promise as you’re going to get.

Source: Autocar