The Audi Q7 in Development

In the words of Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the AUDI AG Board of Management: “The Audi Q7 represented uncharted territory for Audi – both in its own product range and on the competitive scene. The market had no similarly sporty and dynamic, but also spacious, multifunctional vehicle with off-road capability to offer. To achieve this position was the special challenge our development teams had to face.”

Almost 5,000 people work in Technical Development at AUDI AG. Since 2002, many of them will have been engaged to a greater or lesser degree on the project bearing the internal Audi number AU 716: the development of the Audi Q7. But in addition to the many technical departments, experts from Production, Toolmaking, Quality Assurance and Marketing were brought in from the first concept and design sketches onwards. There can be no doubt that creating a vehicle such as the Audi Q7 is one of the most complex tasks encountered anywhere in industry. So many of the tasks it involves can only be hinted at or described in brief here.

At Audi, the engineers, designers, mathematicians, physicists, industrial chemists, mechanics, shop-floor personnel, electronics and IT experts work in virtual computer worlds, on crash circuits, test rigs and other test equipment, in wind tunnels – or in worlds of the senses. But they have all contributed to a fine result: a third-generation sports utility vehicle (SUV).

Development of the concept
Not everything that seems ideal from a design standpoint can be implemented as a practical technical concept. When the designers start their work, therefore, their colleagues in Concept Development begin to realise the vehicle project at the same time. As Ralf-Gerhard Willner, Head of Vehicle Concepts at Audi, puts it: “We are to some extent the mediators between the various worlds.” He defines his task as tracking down the best possible compromise between emotive styling, customer-relevant and legally permissible demands and the concepts technical feasibility.

One of the main tasks of Concept Development is to lay down the vehicles principal dimensions and its architecture. The engineer Felix Biffar undertook this work for the Audi Q7 project: “From the very outset, the emphasis when the package was drafted out for the Audi Q7 was on typical Audi qualities: design, driving dynamics, safety, the operating concept, comfort and convenience.” One of the first assumptions for the AU 716 project, he goes on to explain, was for a third row of seats to be an option. “Market surveys have confirmed that customers want this kind of flexible, purpose-orientated seat arrangement in a vehicle of this size,” explained Biffar.

A wheelbase of three metres was therefore chosen. The high seat position characteristic of an SUV was also included in the requirement specification from the very start, as were sporty handling, an above-average level of comfort on long journeys, off-road capability, ample room for the occupants and the largest load area in its class.

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