New and Future Audi Cars

Just like you, we always want to know what's coming next from Detroit, Tokyo, Stuttgart, Munich, Los Angeles, and all the other places where automotive engineers and designers dream and scheme on our behalf. Car companies, of course, are loath to share information on new products lest their competitors try to copy them--or you decide not to buy the cars they already have on dealer lots. Car companies, though, are simply groups of people, and some of them have a hard time keeping secrets. So, we poke, we prod, we cajole, and we uncover information that becomes the basis for our annual Sneak Preview issue. As always, some of our information is educated guesswork based on hints, insinuations, hunches. Make no mistake, though, these cars are on their way, even though details may change. Ladies and gentlemen: our list of 136 cars coming over the next few years.

2012 Audi A7

The star of the 2009 Detroit auto show was the Audi Sportback concept you see pictured here. The A7, as it will be called in production form, is a deceptively large car-it's about as big as the full-size A8 sedan upon which it's based. It looks like a swoopy sedan, but its hatchback rump swallows an impressive amount of luggage.

We expect the A7 to hit the market as a 2012 model, one year after the next-generation A8. It's said that the A7 is the baby of design genius Walter de'Silva, and it was apparently the last project he worked on before he left to clean up Volkswagen's frumpy designs. Like all his latest Audis (R8, TT, and A5 in particular), the A7 will look even better on the street than it does on the show stand. And for that alone, the A7 is worth the wait.

source : car