You’re looking at what will become Audi’s new Q3 SUV, kid brother to the Q7. The Cross Coupe Quattro unveiled at this week’s Shanghai motor show is a compact 4x4 that will go into production as a rival for the Toyota RAV-4. The car shows “what is possible for Audi at the entry level of the SUV market,” according to Audi’s design head Stefan Sielaff.Based on the current Golf platform, the Cross Coupé uses a new transversely mounted 2.0-litre turbodiesel with 204bhp and 295lb ft of torque from 2000rpm. Audi claims the car will return 47mpg with this engine. It also has a Bluetec system fitted, which cuts emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides by injecting urea into the exhaust. Mercedes-Benz has pioneered this technology and already has cars on sale in the US fitted with it, but this is the first time Audi has used it. Expect to see it on production Audis soon, as it will enable them to meet North America’s strict new diesel emission laws. Suspension is standard VW Group: MacPherson strut up front, multilink at the rear, but it uses Audi’s magnetic dampers, as found on the R8 and the TT. The production Q3 will get this suspension system. At 4.38m long the concept is shorter than a RAV4 but has a longer wheelbase (2.6m). That also makes it only just bigger than a five-door A3. Inside it’s a four-seater, with a dashboard strongly reminiscent of last year’s Roadjet concept’s indicating that this look is the future of Audi interiors. Ventilation is provided by 4600 holes in the fascia, rather than by conventional vents, while the centre monitor allows the passenger and driver to see two different displays at the same time. We won’t be seeing the Q3 on our roads until at least 2010, by which point the concept’s steeply raked rear screen will have been replaced by a more conventional upright hatch. But the rest of the Cross Coupé should make it into production intact.
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