A new luxury 4x4 is coming from Audi and it could be their answer to the Mercedes G-Class

It appears that a new luxury 4×4 is heading our way from Audi.

The German marque already makes SUVs, such as the Q5 and the Q7.

But this one sounds as if it is going to be completely different.

And it reportedly has the Mercedes G-Class in its crosshairs.

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Audi planning to take it to the G-Class?

It’s certainly an interesting turn of events for the car industry.

It now appears that Audi is planning to develop a new 4×4 model.

But this new model is nothing like anything in its current range.

For decades, the Mercedes G-Class has ruled its own market.

The rugged SUV sector has been entirely ruled by the G-Class since the 1970s.

And it has always come as a surprise to people that neither Audi nor BMW has tried to change that.

Audi has been toying around with the idea of a new Quattro-badged SUV for a while now.

It has reportedly looked to introduce something above the current Q7 and Q8.

Former design chief Marc Lichte first hinted at the project back in 2023.

Lichte believed that there was space alongside the Mercedes G-Class and the Land Rover Defender.

Despite Audi continuing to streamline its range, there appears to be support for the project.

Speaking to Autocar, Audi CEO Gernot Dollner appeared to confirm these reports.

“There is no niche banner,” the brand CEO said.

“It works perfectly to have a more focused line-up in the core, and in addition to that, have some niche models to build the brand and to also transfer new ideas from a niche segment into the core products.

“That works perfectly, and this is part of our strategy.”

Asked whether the project was live, the CEO responded by saying to ‘stay tuned.’

Can the US shield the new 4×4 from tariffs?

So, where could this hypothetical Audi 4×4 be built?

Odds have heavily been weighted that it could be in the United States.

And these heavy odds don’t come without good reason, either.

For one thing, the VW Group already has a massive plant in South Carolina.

The VW Group also owns the Scout Motors marque, which currently builds its Traveler SUV in South Carolina.

Said SUV being built on the Scout platform could make a lot of sense.

It would allow Audi to get around costly R&D costs, for one thing.

Of course, there is another glaring reason for looking to the US – tariffs.

Manufacturing this potential 4×4 in the US would spare Audi from the worst of the current US tariffs.

Of course, we don’t even know how far along this project actually is.

We will have to see if it even passes the planning stage before seeing where it ends up being built.

It remains to be seen whether Audi can battle the dominance of the Mercedes G-Class.