Audi likely to drop allroad in favour of Q7

Audi may go with the bigger Q7, which is due here in August.

This is the second-generation allroad quattro, the A6 Avant-based successor to the vehicle that Audi launched in 2000 as a luxury alternative to the trend-setting all-wheel-drive Subaru Outback.

Volvo followed soon after with the XC70, its soft-road offering for the lifestyle market.

The new allroad is about to go on sale in Britain, where two turbodiesel variants will be available, 2.7- and 3-litre engines mated to six-speed automatic transmissions.

Petrol V6 and V8 engines will follow next year.

It will take its place in the line-up alongside the bigger Q7, Audi's first four-wheel-drive built along the lines of the Volkswagen Touareg, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, BMW X5, and Volvo XC90.

That's how things will stand in Britain and other bigger markets. But what Audi will do with the allroad in smaller New Zealand isn't so straightforward. It may not even be available on forecourts in this market; Audi is not saying.

There is talk that the carmaker will instead go with the bigger Q7 - due here in August - and its diesel and petrol engines, based on the sales strength of such luxury off-road vehicles.

There is also the clash in price. Both allroad and Q7 would roughly compete head-to-head on retail lists, perhaps starting around $110,000 to $115,000. There is also talk that the allroad would even be more expensive than the Q7. Such a model/price mix is a confusing extravagance in a small market.

The previous allroad created its own segment, upwards of $100,000. It wasn't big but it was loyal. Second-hand models were snapped up.

But now there is an alternative in the form of the Q7, which is in big demand in mass-market Britain, Europe and the US.

The company's marketing manager Rachel Matthews-Ward says only that it hasn't decided what it will do with the new allroad.