Are you ready for an Audi minivan?

By John LeBlanc With the biennial Frankfurt auto show less than a month away, reports and rumours are starting to fly in the automotive industry about what vehicles we may — or may not — see as world premieres. And the latest is an update on Audi’s first-ever minivan. While Audi has jumped on the SUV/crossover bandwagon big time (ranging from the foreign-market compact Q3 crossover to the large Q7 three-row SUV, with more to come) the German automaker has never offered a dedicated people mover — what the Europeans call a “multipurpose vehicle” or MPV”, and what we in North America call a “minivan”. The closest example was the tall-roof Roadjet concept from the 2006 Detroit auto show, seen above. But a report from Autocar says an Audi MPV in imminent. Audi’s former sales and marketing chief Peter Schwarzenbauer, once told the publication that an Audi MPV with “six or seven seats” was a possibility. But don’t worry. Audi isn’t thinking of rebadging a Chrysler Town & Country (as per the virtually unsellable Volkswagen Routan.) Smaller than a not-so-mini minivan (more inline in size with small people haulers like the Mazda5, Kia Rondo and Ford C-Max), the German automaker has already signed-off on a tall-body version of the current A3 compact, to be offered in five- and seven-passenger configurations. While such a practical vehicle from a luxury brand like Audi seems odd, remember that the automaker’s main rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are also jumping into this market. Mercedes already has its five-passenger B-Class tall-and-small wagon, and BMW is working on five- and seven-passenger versions of its soon-to-arrive 1 Series family of small cars. While a small people hauler from Audi is a “go”, when we’ll see it is still up for debate. The concept is apparently ready to be unveiled, but Audi’s brass hasn’t decided to show it next month in Frankfurt. Whenever the concept does appear, it seems a production version won’t be ready until either the 2016 or 2017 model year. If or when the Audi MPV ever makes it to Canada, would you be interested? What about a less expensive VW-branded version? Or do you think that small minivans are only viable in foreign markets? Source: Autocar

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