Sleeker, lower-slung SUVs have been around since BMW gave us its X6 – a controversially re-styed version of its X5 large SUV – in 2008.
Since then, through more acceptably re-thought SUVs (such as the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe), designers have figured out how to make their SUV/coupe contrivances more balanced and stylistically irresistible.
Audi’s Q3 Sportback, a re-think of the second-generation MQB-platform Q3 which is due in Australia towards the end of 2019, is a classic example.
It might be difficult to unwrap the actualities beneath the disguised Audi Q3 Sportback spotted here testing in northern Sweden recently, but it’s clear that the stylists have done a pretty good job of sexing-up the already good-looking Q3 SUV.
A lower roofline and sharper, upswept side-window profiling help create a suave presence far removed from once-held perceptions of how an SUV should look.
Scheduled to hit the European market some time this year, the five-seat Audi Q3 Sportback will stand as a subtly upmarket version of the regular Q3. It will feature all of the new Audi technology including simplified but more comprehensive infotainment controls (with fewer buttons), further refinements to semi-autonomous driving systems and the availability of Google 3D mapping and on-board Wi-Fi.
Like the regular Q3, it’s expected the Q3 Sportback engine range will include new-generation 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol and diesel engines, updated current-generation 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol and diesel engines and a new 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo-petrol engine.
Two-litre engines are expected to come with quattro AWD, while it’s understood that a plug-in e-tron version with a pure-electric range of as much as 50km will be available.