Audi Q7: Insight views on the development of Audi's performance SUV!

We found a very cool article about the development of the Audi Q7 with many insight views of the Audi factory!
It's a must see even if you are not interested in the Audi Q7 itself, the process is similar to other models.

In the words of Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the AUDI AG Board of Management: “The Audi Q7 represented uncharted territory for Audi – both in its own product range and on the competitive scene. The market had no similarly sporty and dynamic, but also spacious, multifunctional vehicle with off-road capability to offer. To achieve this position was the special challenge our development teams had to face.”

Almost 5,000 people work in Technical Development at AUDI AG. Since 2002, many of them will have been engaged to a greater or lesser degree on the project bearing the internal Audi number AU 716: the development of the Audi Q7. But in addition to the many technical departments, experts from Production, Toolmaking, Quality Assurance and Marketing were brought in from the first concept and design sketches onwards. There can be no doubt that creating a vehicle such as the Audi Q7 is one of the most complex tasks encountered anywhere in industry. So many of the tasks it involves can only be hinted at or described in brief here.

At Audi, the engineers, designers, mathematicians, physicists, industrial chemists, mechanics, shop-floor personnel, electronics and IT experts work in virtual computer worlds, on crash circuits, test rigs and other test equipment, in wind tunnels – or in worlds of the senses. But they have all contributed to a fine result: a third-generation sports utility vehicle (SUV).