The new Audi Q7 and Q9 were supposed to come with electronic door handles. But Audi changed its decision to go ahead with that and reverted to the conventional door handles at the last minute.
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner acknowledged that electronic door handles are, quite simply, “worse” for customers. As a result, both SUVs reverted to conventional door handles in the final weeks of development, abandoning the flush, touch-sensitive designs that have become increasingly common across the industry.
“One special item I’m really proud of is, quite a conventional topic, the door handles. We changed that actually 45 weeks ago [around June or July 2025], and we were happy to be able to do so. We had an innovative door handle concept on that car as well. And then we had a final test drive and said, it’s innovative, but from a customer perspective, it’s worse than a conventional door handle.”
The changes don’t stop there. Customer feedback has also influenced the cabin. The touch-capacitive driver’s door panel seen in models like the Audi A5 and Q5 has been dropped in favour of proper physical controls.
Source: The Drive
