Audi’s new head of R&D Ulrich Hackenberg is leaving no stone unturned, according to Focus. The German publication reports that the next generation of the A4 will be delayed until the summer of 2015 and that the next Q7 is being delayed again for sub-standard styling.
The new A4 was originally scheduled to launch later this year. The brand will use this extended timeframe to tweak the car’s styling and fine-tune the suspension and assistance systems. Moreover, Audi is rushing a plug-in hybrid option into production in order to make it available soon after the A4's launch.
Perhaps more intriguing, this is the second delay for the Q7 that’s been attributed to dissatisfaction with the SUV’s design. The Q7 was previously pushed back to accommodate changes requested by Audi’s former chief designer Wolfgang Egger. But Egger is gone, and Hackenberg and his new chief designer Marc Lichte have sent the designers back to the drawing board. They are working to take some of the aggressiveness out of the vehicle, which, according to an insider, “catered mainly to Russian tastes.”
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