Audi A7 Caught On the Ring

Audi has a goal to become the world's largest luxury automaker by 2015. In the last quarter, they came closer to that goal than ever before, coming at number two, behind BMW.

To take over the top spot, the brand has set out to increase its model lineup. It has added the A5, Q5 and the A1 supermini in a relatively short space of time. The next model is something at the higher end of the range, the A7 Sportback.

It was previewed a little while back at the Detroit Show. We loved that concept's styling and hope it translates over well to the production Audi A7. From what we can tell based on the camoflauged overall shape, it looks like it is.  Now we just need that stunning interior to carryover to production.

The Audi A7 will be competing against the Mercedes-Benz CLS and the Porsche Panamera (now under the same Volkswagen Group umbrella). A production BMW Gran Coupe would also go head to head to this. Some say the BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo and the Maserati Quattroporte should be included as competition.

These vehicles are hard to categorize! This writer is glad to see so many variations of the four door "coupe" theme popup - they sure offer a lot more styling drama than a standard sedan. Check out the full gallery of pictures at Autoblog.