Meanwhile the carmaker also confirmed its plans to expand its range of Q cars with the launch of a new small SUV in 2016 while also looking at how to fill other niches.

Speaking to news agency Headlineauto, development chief Ulrich Heckenberg said: ‘When you look at our line-up there is clearly a need for a small SUV as the market is expanding rapidly. The Q1 project is already in place and we have capacity to make the car at our Ingolstadt plant in Germany when we move Q5 production to Mexico.

‘There is also potential to expand our Q range even further, there is space between the Q3 and Q5 and between Q5 and Q7 and we are looking at the idea of MPVs with additional seating. The option of seven seats is becoming increasingly popular.’

Mr Heckenberg also did not discount the possibility of a further model above the Q7. ‘There are many possibilities,’ he added.

He also said there were opportunities to spin-off more models from the popular Audi TT. The next generation model will appear at the Geneva Motor Show in a few weeks time.     

‘The TT has a lot of potential yet,’ he said.

At Detroit, Audi showed its allroad shooting brake show car, which it says offers an outlook on future Audi design applications.

The three-door four-seater model combines elements of Audi’s rugged allroad models, including raised height and body cladding, along with familiar TT design elements, giving rise to conjecture that this may preview the next TT coupe or a more practical version, or give a glimpse of future A4 or A6 allroad models.

The allroad shooting brake also incorporates elements of Audi’s forthcoming e-tron hybrids. The show car features a hybrid drive unit with two electric motors linked to a conventional 2.0 TFSI, giving a total 408PS output and 650Nm of torque. Audi claims a resultant 0-100kph in 4.6 seconds, 250kph limited top speed, fuel consumption of 1.9 l/100km and 45g/km CO2, along with a possible 820km driving range and 50km in pure electric mode.

Inside the show car gives plenty of room for four passengers inside, with an easy entry function to make rear seat access simpler. Folding the rear seatback gives a boot space with a level floor ‘in which there is space for rather large sports equipment’.

‘The show car combines sex appeal, highly efficient e-tron-quattro technology that produces 300kW of power yet only consumes 1.9 l/100 km of fuel (equating to 149 UK mpg) and cutting-edge electronic applications,’ said Mr Hackenberg. ‘We are offering very concrete glimpses of the near future in this show car.’