Audi Q3 will be launched in 2011，along with the Audi A1

Recently Audi released some details about the upcoming Q3, that will join the “Q” family in 2011. The Q3 will further expand the Q family. Around the same time we should also see the small city car A1.

The Q3 will be the third model in the Q series belonging to Audi, following the Q7 - recently facelifted and presented at the Shanghai Auto Show - currently manufactured in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the Q5 launched last year and produced in Ingolstadt, Germany.

Audi Q3 production site will be the SEAT site in Martorell, Spain. Manufacture will begin in 2011 with an annual production capacity of up to 80,000 units. The total investment will amount to around €300 million.

“Following in-depth consideration of all relevant factors and an extensive international comparison of various sites, we selected Martorell,” explained Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management at AUDI AG. This decision enables Audi to continue its strategy of growth and internationalization. Mr. Stadler added: “We are counting on this Spanish site’s efficiency, the excellent quality of the Production department, and its highly trained staff. We will use the Group’s synergies to sharpen our competitive edge and help protect around 1,200 jobs. The decision furthermore safeguards workplaces at other Audi locations.”

Having agreed that the Q3 will be manufactured in Spain, a decision about production in the USA has been postponed. Mr. Stadler: “We will systematically explore our options in the context of the current market crisis. Audi is in a good position. There is currently no urgent need to select additional sites.”

Q3 will be a coupé-like five-door SUV with characteristic of a typical SUV. According to Audi, the Audi Q3 will stand out thanks to a supremely sporty driving experience.

Audi rules out U.S. production for now, needs more local sales

Audi currently has no assembly or production facilities in North America but was reportedly considering starting a local operation to help avoid currency fluctuations from importing popular models from overseas. The company has announced today that it is postponing its decision on a North American plant for now, due mostly because of lack of volume in the market and a need to develop a suitable supplier network to source parts locally.

Audi's parent company, Volkswagen, is currently in the process of building a new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it’s possible, although unlikely for the near future, that Audi could use this plant for local production of its own models. Scheduled to open in 2011, the new plant makes sense for Volkswagen's "economies of scale" but does not oblige Audi to use its facilities in anyway, according to the current president of Audi of America, Johan de Nysschen, who spoke recently with Automotive News.

Furthermore, the VW plant will be mounting engines transversely for the VW platforms it will be working with, while Audi's engines must be mounted longitudinally - thus diminishing the efficiency of the plant overall and making the case for not producing Audi vehicles locally until more sales have been notched up.

Nysschen also stated that it’s possible the carmaker could purchase an already existing production facility, but before any steps are taken in this direction the volume of sales for Audi has to be increased. Last year Audi sold nearly 90,000 vehicles in the U.S., but the German carmaker is aiming to more than double this figure to 200,000 within the next 9 years. Should this goal be achieved then we might see Audi talking more seriously about production in North America.


source from:automk.com