Audi seems to be lastly getting ready a rival for the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class.

A prototype for an Audi full-size SUV, which can be known as the Q9, has been noticed for the primary time.

Rumors of a possible Q9 have circulated for years and Audi has already filed logos for the Q9 title. Extra not too long ago, Audi Australia government Jeff Mannering hinted strongly at the potential of a Q9 in an interview with Automobile Gross sales revealed on Jan. 9. Audi’s U.S. sellers had been additionally advised a couple of years in the past to anticipate a full-size SUV round 2025, which suggests the Q9 will probably arrive as a 2026 mannequin.

The prototype in our spy photographs options the identical cut up headlights and grille form seen on current Audi prototypes for upcoming SUVs such because the next-generation Q5 and new Q6 E-Tron electrical automobile.

2026 Audi Q9 spy photographs – Photograph credit score: Baldauf

There is not any clear shot of the inside however inside there must be three rows supporting seven seats.

The open grille and visual exhaust tip level to the prototype packing an internal-combustion engine, probably in a hybrid configuration. This could match with Audi calling the automobile the Q9, because the automaker’s newest naming technique requires EVs to make use of an excellent quantity of their names and every thing else to make use of an odd quantity.

Finally, Audi will swap to promoting EVs completely. The automaker has already hinted that it’ll launch its final mannequin with a fuel engine as quickly as 2026.

Audi could also be trying to broaden into extra than simply the full-size SUV section. There are rumors Audi plans to launch a rugged SUV to problem the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Audi might also be getting ready to broaden into the minivan section with an EV based mostly on the Urbansphere idea proven in 2022. The idea, which was designed with the Chinese language market in thoughts, spanned a large 217 inches, or 17 inches longer than the present Q7 midsize SUV.