Audi’s new Q3 4x4

The tide may be turning against SUVs, but Audi is piling in to the 4x4 market with another new soft-roader: the Q3. The new model is a 4x4 lite – think family hatchback that's been to Audi’s country retreat and donned wellington boots for that tougher, mud-spattered wannabe look. CAR has the full lowdown on the new Q3 in this exclusive report.

It’s worth casting aside, for a moment, our cynicism about SUVs. In the UK they have become social pariahs, knocked by politicians, abused by cardigan-toting campaigners and increasingly shunned by buyers worried about crippling taxes and fuel bills. But it’s not like that everywhere.

So Audi’s SUVs are selling like hot cakes?

Audi’s Q7 has sold so well that the diesel model has attracted long waiting lists in some territories. So Audi now hopes to repeat this success with the new Q5 (read our review here) and its forthcoming, smaller siblings: the secret new Q1 and Q3.

By the time all four 4x4s are on sale, Audi hopes to sell between 300,000 and 350,000 sport utility vehicles annually. BMW and Mercedes may narrowly top that tally, but the gap is shrinking fast