You may have noticed a new automotive industry buzzword: emergency redesign. Honda decided the 2012 Civic was in need of an emergency redesign while for the new-for-2013 Chevrolet Malibu received the same treatment. It looks like Audi isn’t being spared, either – the upcoming Audi Q7 is reportedly getting an emergency redesign because the SUV’s original design was deemed “too brutal and ostentatious.”
2015 Audi Q7 prototype rear 300x199 imageAs we reported in the September 2013 Motor Trend print issue, the next-gen Audi Q7's planned design was so negatively received that its delay may have been a factor in getting former Porsche R&D boss Wolfgang Dürheimer, then acting as head of product development at Audi, removed from his position in less than a year. The cost of the emergency redesign? About $260 million and the delay of the Q7's launch.
To that end, Audi is making quick work of the new Q7, as these spy photos show. The pixelated images show off the Audi Q7's front end, which sports Audi’s signature LED running lights (though not the new A8's Matrix LEDs), flanking Audi’s new shield-shaped grille. Like the headlights, we expect that grille to sport treatment similar to the new Q3, rather than the Allroad.
Read Article