Audi will start building its new Q1 small SUV in Ingolstadt, Germany from 2016.

The new model is part of Audi’s plan to continue expanding its model range and will be an upmarket competitor to models like the Nissan Juke. The brand is looking to expand its model from the current 49 models to more than 60 by 2020.

Dealers will struggle to house all 60 models in the current size of showrooms so it is possible Audi’s digital screen technology, the type used in Audi City in London, could be used to help dealers cope with capacity issues.

The decision to produce the new model will help to secure utilisation of capacity at Audi’s main plant in Ingolstadt over the long term. Audi currently produces the A3 and A3 Sportback and the A4/A5 family at the Ingolstadt plant.

Peter Mosch, chairman of the Audi General Works Council, said: “This is a clear commitment to Ingolstadt as a production site.

“We will continue to make every effort to develop the plant even further as the leading technological site of the Audi Group.”

The Q family currently comprises the Audi Q3, RS Q3, Q5, SQ5 and Q7. The Q5 is the most popular model in the Q range and Audi has sold 194,930 units of the model this year around the world.

A production total of approximately 230,000 Q5s is planned for 2013, which is more than half of the total Q volume.
The proportion of the company’s total production volume accounted for by SUVs will be about 28% this year, and is planned to rise to more than 35% by 2020.

Audi has produced and delivered more than 1.5 million Q family models since the market launch of the first SUV in 2006.