A number of customers have asked us for quotations on the Audi Q7, people are trying to find lease deals on the 4×4 SUV and struggling to match some of the pricing that they had on the vehicle 2 or 3 years ago. The problem being that the cost of leasing one of these vehicles has risen somewhat.
When Q7 was first released it posed an odd problem for Audi, it wasn’t the choice of the classic 4×4 buyer wanting off road pedigree in the same way that people choose Land Rover or Jeep. It wasn’t a P11d friendly premium prestige product like the VW Touareg or the class of a Mercedes ML or BMW X Series and the price certainly didn’t attract the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Santa Fe or Chevrolet Captiva buyer. It was an oddity sold purely (and rightly so) because people like the hard looks and Audi badge but still wasn’t a retail favourite.
From a leasing point of view it was great news, the novelty and different market mean’t fantastic residual values, typical of most Audi’s and as such great lease rates were possible around £399 plus VAT.
Today with the rising cost of fuel, green thinking, anti-4×4 sentiment and the credit crunch, residual values have collapsed on these vehicles and despite being popular choices still, contract hire companies have taken a negative view on 4×4’s particularly over £25000 in case the Government add another tier of road fund or company car taxation penalty.
So typically, the price of these great cars has increased. A 3 year deal will see a £600 plus figure, although if you only do 10 to 15000 miles a years we would suggest trying 4 years whereby mid £500’s is attainable. Needless to say, we’ve leased several on the basis in the last couple of weeks!
