New Audi Q7 spied in hot SQ7 guise

The Audi Q7 is the oldest model in the firm’s line-up, so it’s ripe for a replacement, and our spies have caught it testing ahead of an expected release next year. We first saw the third-generation Q7 testing earlier this year, but these latest test cars have dropped some more camouflage, giving us a better look at the upcoming SUV. 

The Q7 was Audi’s first SUV when it launched in 2006. However, the brand was pretty late to the segment, when you consider its all-wheel-drive heritage and the fact that Volkswagen Group siblings such as the Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg went on sale a couple of years earlier. The current, second-generation Q7 gained an update in January of 2024, although that wasn’t a mid-life facelift – that happened in 2020. This year saw a series of mild tweaks to keep the Q7 looking fresh alongside the newly revised Touareg and the Q7’s coupe-SUV alternative, the Q8. 

The Q7 is Audi’s largest SUV (if you discount the Chinese-market Q6), and it will adopt the same design details seen on many of Audi’s newer internal-combustion-engined models: a new shape to the grille, separate headlight clusters, and a bold, upright front end. The overall body shape is similar to the current Q7’s but the rear window looks a little less raked for a taller side profile – possibly a deliberate move to distance the Q7 from the sleeker Q8. At the front we can see a thin upper headlight cluster, which incorporates the indicators and a chunkier lower light. The large grille we’ve become accustomed to seeing on Audi SUVs appears wider than the current car’s, and the lower grille features a radar sensor in the middle. 

Down the side of this test car we can see the door handles have transformed into little winglets on the window line - similar to the ones you’d find on a Ford Mustang Mach-E. There are still some contrasting elements over where the traditional handles would be, however, so we’ll wait and see what design Audi has decided to go with here. 

The previous Q7 test car caught by our spies featured new diamond-cut wheels, but this model has black alloys. At the rear we get a better look at the new light clusters; the outer edges flow further down the bodywork, and the lights are connected by a full-width light bar. This is something Audi has typically reserved for its all-electric e-tron models, but we can clearly see from its dual-exit exhaust tips that this test car isn’t one of those. 

Instead, they mark this out as the hot SQ7 model, which will sport a different front bumper and a new grille insert. Bespoke alloy wheels are almost a given for the production car, while a unique rear bumper should go with those quad-exit exhaust tips.

We’re yet to see inside the next Q7, but it should use the latest technology from the VW Group. We expect a massive 14.5-inch touchscreen coupled with a 10.9-inch display for the passenger and Audi’s latest Virtual Cockpit - essentially the same set-up as in the new Q6 e-tron. 

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Given that the VW Group is spending big on its new PPE architecture for electric cars – which Audi will make use of for the Q6 e-tron and A6 e-tron – the focus may be taken away from developing new platforms for ICE models. As a result, we could see the new Q7 use a redesigned version of the current car’s MLB Evo architecture. 

We’ll have to wait and see what engines the new Q7 will come with, but a selection of petrol and diesel V6s is likely, considering that Audi previously claimed its final cars using those fuels will launch by 2026. A plug-in hybrid edition has occasionally been available as part of the current Q7 line-up, and we expect it’ll be offered with the new model.

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