Audi India begins assembling the Q3 at Aurangabad

German luxury car maker Audi has begun assembling the Q3 crossover at its Aurangabad assembly facility in Maharashtra. The assembly will happen through the completely knocked down (CKD) kit route. CKD assembly of the Audi Q3 will allow the German brand to lower waiting periods for the entry level crossover. The German luxury car maker shares its assembly facility with Czech car maker Skoda, and both these car makers are a part of the Volkswagen group. 

The Q3 crossover joins four other Audi cars that are assembled at Aurangabad. Audi India is now capable of assembling up to 13,000 cars each year and this number includes variants of the A4 and A6 sedans, and the Q3, Q5 and Q7 luxury crossovers. Recently, Audi India launched the Q3 Sport, a cut price version of this hot selling crossover. Apart from the Audi Q3 Sport, which is powered by a 2 liter TDI turbo diesel engine outputting 140 Bhp-320 Nm, Audi sells three other variants of the crossover in India. 

While the Audi Q3 Sport is front wheel driven and is the least priced crossover model in the German luxury car maker's range, the other variants of the Q3 come with the Quattro all wheel drive system as standard. The cut price version features a 6 speed manual gearbox while all other variants come with the 7 speed dual clutch DSG automatic transmission. The Audi Q3 is also available with a more powerful version of the 2 liter TDI turbo diesel engine that outputs 177 Bhp-380 Nm while the 2 liter petrol TFSI engined variant outputs 211 Bhp-350 Nm. 

The Audi Q3 range starts at 25 lakh rupees for the Sport version while the top end diesel variant retails for 34.30 lakh rupees. The mid-level diesel variant and the top end petrol variants are priced at the same levels, at 30.46 lakh rupees each. All prices reflect ex-showroom Delhi figures. In India, the Audi Q3 competes with other entry level luxury crossovers such as the BMW X1 and the Volvo V40 Cross Country. While Audi has begun CKD assembly of the Q3 in India, it remains unconfirmed as to whether the brand will pass on the benefits of local assembly to the customer. Thus far, there has been no indication from Audi India regarding the same.