Audi's compact Q3 SUV, making its world debut at the Shanghai Auto Show last week, will be the first Audi to feature ‘disconnect coasting' - a system that automatically freewheels downhill to save fuel.
It will be fitted as standard to front-wheel drive eco models with 2.0-litre petrol engines when the Q3 goes on sale in this part of the world in November; prices are expected to start from about £25,000.
This was a teaser for the Q3, but the production car loses the over-sized Q7 grille and sharply dipping roofline of the concept.
The five-door Q3 is based on the underpinnings of the recently facelifted VW Tiguan, with which it also shares its transversely mounted engines and gearbox combinations.
At 4,390mm long, 1,830mm wide and 1,600mm tall (roof rail included ), the Q3 is 239mm shorter, 50mm narrower and 53mm lower than the Q5. Audi claims a 1,500kg kerb weight for the base front-drive model. Weight-saving measures include the adoption of an aluminium bonnet and tailgate, although the remainder of the body is made from high-strength steel.
The Q3 could arrive here with a choice of three engines. The petrol units are a 168bhp 2.0-litre turbo, with front drive or four-wheel drive, and a four-wheel drive only 208bhp version of the same engine.
The diesel option at launch will be a 175bhp version of Audi's 2.0-litre common-rail engine, with four-wheel drive only.
The Q3 will be built in China and at Seat's Martorell factory in Spain. If Q3 sales can reach the 100,000 level that Audi is said to have pencilled in, that will go a long way to easing Seat's current under-utilisation of the factory.
