The Audi Steppenwolf was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

produced by

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

and presented at the

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

in 2000. The Steppenwolf was a study for a three-door

compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...

crossover SUV A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles (S ...

based on the Volkswagen Group PQ34 platform used in the contemporary

Audi A3 The Audi A3 is a subcompact executive/small family car (C-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi AG since September 1996, currently in its fourth generation. The first two generations of the Audi A3 were based on the ...

and Audi TT. Powered by a 3.2L V6 engine with

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

, the Steppenwolf had several novel features, including four-level adjustable air suspension (similar to the Audi allroad quattro), a removable

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

hardtop A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, which for modern cars is typically constructed from metal. A hardtop roof can be either fixed (i.e. not removable), Convertible#Detachable hardtop, detachable for separate storing or retractable ha ...

or optional soft top, and an electro-hydraulic

parking brake In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a cable connected to two wheel brakes, which is ...

. The Steppenwolf didn't result directly in a production model. However, six years later, Audi presented the Audi Cross Coupé quattro, another concept car in the same class, which was the basis of a production version called the

Audi Q3 The Audi Q3 is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV made by Audi. The Q3 has a transverse-mounted front engine, and entered production in 2011. __TOC__ First generation (Typ 8U; 2011) Concept Vehicle: Audi Cross Coupé quattro (2007) Designed ...

for 2011.

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References

{{Modern-auto-stub Steppenwolf All-wheel-drive vehicles