2020 Audi Q7 Facelift Getting Q8-Style Triple Screen Dashboard

Another day, another piece of the 2020 Audi Q7 puzzle falls into place, as this prototype was spied wearing production lighting units front and rear, and its new grille. Most importantly though, we can finally see what’s going on with the interior design.

Surprise! Audi actually did perform a full dashboard swap, removing the old unit and replacing it with the one from the brand new Q8 crossover, which in turn should give the Q7 a fighting chance against newly-designed rivals such as the latest generation X5 and GLE.

Premium SUVs are all about tech

Look inside any luxury crossover and you’ll find an abundance of touchscreen surfaces, digital gauge clusters, sleek designs and a wide range of built-in safety and convenience features. This is true for the BMW X5, Mercedes GLE, Porsche Cayenne, various Land Rover products and quite a few others.

Falling behind in that department would have been unacceptable for Audi, which is why they pulled out all the stops for the facelifted version of the Q7. In fact, the last time a major design change took place inside a premium SUV was when Mercedes shifted from the ML to the GLE – and that wasn’t actually a full dashboard swap.

Anyway, what this all means for the Q7 is that it gets the automaker’s MMI touch response displays (10.1-inch on top, 8.6-inch bottom), 12.3-inch virtual cockpit display, head-up display, ambient lighting, plus features such as MMI navigation plus and the Audi connect data transfer module with LTE Advanced standard and Wi-Fi hotspot – we imagine.

As for safety, if the Q8 is anything to go by, and it should, the Q7 will rely on systems such as adaptive cruise assist, efficiency assist, crossing assist, lane change warning, curb warning and a 360-degree camera.

A familiar face

Even though the facelifted Q7 is getting new headlights, new taillights, new tailgate design with a possible horizontal strip like the new A6 Avant, plus a smaller front grille, overall, it will remain instantly recognizable to anybody who’s ever seen a second-generation Q7 before.

Audi should launch the 2020 Q7 sometime next year, with a range of petrol, diesel and electrified powertrains.