Gernot Döllner became the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG on September 1, 2023, nearly three years ago. It has taken until today for the first vehicles under his vision to be fully unveiled.
While the next-generation Q7 is a redesigned version of the company’s well-selling midsize, three-row SUV, the Q9 is a new larger, three-row, full-size SUV designed to take on the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7.
Döllner was not the one who signed the company on to make the Q9. That decision lay with former CEO Markus Duesmann.
“I’m happy that my predecessor took this decision to finally enter the real full-size SUV segment in the U.S.,” Döllner told Newsweek in May at a preview event for the model. “I’m quite happy with the with the overall package that was chosen back then. I did not have to change that.”
But, Döllner has put his stamp on the new products. “These cars are very special to me, because when I joined Audi two-and-a-half years ago, these were the products I could could have an impact on by really reviewing the project… I reviewed the customer feedback process, the JD Power process. And there was a lot to improve,” he candidly said.
The CEO and his team set to work making technology, comfort, materials and features improvements that would become ready for their debut on the two SUVs. And, the SUVs have been maximized for their appeal to U.S. customers, Döllner said.
He calls the sum of the changes “huge steps” forward for the company. The interior work included a reworked center console, larger cup holders that are big enough to hold Stanleys, smart door panels, an dimming glass roof and dedicated switches that optimize interior cooling.
Despite the ever-evolving regulatory environment of China, Europe and the U.S., Döllner’s team was able to deliver a variety of powertrains for customer consideration. He calls the V8 (only available in the U.S.) in the SQ9 performance variant of the Q9 and the similarly linked SQ7 the “most emotional”
The CEO is also proud of the Q9’s door handles. They were revised in early spring, just a month before the preview. They replaced what Döllner called “an innovative door handle concept on the car” that worked well, but during test drives was nixed in dramatic fashion.
He explained: “We had a final test drive and said, ‘It’s innovative, but from a customer perspective, it’s worse than a conventional door handle… We were absolutely luck to be able to change it. Normally, it takes two years to change that but our body engineers did an outstanding job and we were a little bit lucky.”
The changes were not just necessary, but stepping stones that are part of a larger plan that Döllner and his team have put into place.
“To really build a global brand that comes back to its roots and is innovative on the other hand, I think we are taking the right steps with these products. We build on functionality, on quality, on safety, on everything. Step by step we are working our way back when it comes to interior quality. The vision where we are aiming for design-wise, we presented last year with the Concept C,” he said.
The CEO continued: “To me, we have to be flexible from a global perspective… We will do that by listening more carefully to U.S. customers, because, as I learned earlier my career, that’s no problem in Europe to have a product that’s perfect for the U.S., but sometimes it’s the other way around, a little bit difficult, which is absolutely alright… And that would be great if I would be able to implement that sets up for Audi [for] future resistance, especially in the US.”