Numerical identifiers are shifting (odd is ICE, even equals EV) and the line-up is expanding: Audi is already preparing for the 2030s.
Six months can be a long time in the car industry of 2024: witness company CEO Gernot Döllner restating in March that Audi would not be selling ICE-powered models in Europe and North America by 2033. Now though, this has changed and multi-energy is the new approach. That will likely evolve too as we edge towards the 2030s. Today, it looks like being EV, MHEV and PHEV but HEV, FCEV and/or e-fuel too are other possibilities.
Model numbers have begun to be altered, insomuch as an even number signifies an EV with odd reserved for IC and electrified. Also, diesel engines still exist but production is being powered down. That’s in response to ever-rising taxation in many countries, while the selection of cars and SUVs and even extra bodystyles within those categories continues to expand.
Döllner is on the record as stating that Audi’s vast line-up is still a few years away from peaking, so what might the range of vehicles look like over the next decade? This report aims to train selected spotlights on the opaqueness.
B segment
Audi has no official plans to remain in the small hatchback business once the existing A1 reaches the end of its production run. Having debuted in 2018, that would logically mean a phase-out in 2025 but build might be extended by a few years. This largely depends on whether enough people want to keep buying the car and are willing to pay a premium price for it.
C segment
Facelifts for the A3 and A3 allstreet were announced in March, and this is likely to mean three more years of production for the current generation. Does that mean an electric replacement will be launched in 2027? Not necessarily.
Audi may instead extend the lifecycle of the A3/S3 series to 2030 with a second styling refresh. If that happens, the future A4 and S4 e-tron Sedans and Avants would be on the same SSP architecture as the next Golf, arriving perhaps one year after the similarly sized Volkswagen. There are however, other theories that these vehicles will be at least shown towards the end of 2025. Production could start in mid-2026 but in this case the architecture would not be the late-running and EV-native SSP.
There is said to be a new electric crossover coming in 2027. Might this one be called A2 e-tron or Q2 e-tron? Gernot Döllner confirmed the existence of the project in March, revealing that it would be positioned below the Q4 e-tron. It would also succeed the A1, Q2 and China’s Q2 L. Maybe even the A3 too. Audi is said to be still deciding what happens to the last of these models, closely observing market trends in China and Europe.
New editions of the Q3 amd Q3 Sportback are scheduled to be revealed in 2025. Twins of the Cupra Terramar, they should be built in the same Audi Hungaria plant (Györ). MQB Evo will be the platform with MHEV and PHEV powertrains featuring and a life cycle which should end in 2033 following a facelift in 2029.
D segment
The new A5 announced in July is a hatchback (though called a Sedan/Saloon) with the A5 Avant a wagon. They are IC-only and replace the now out of production A4/S4 series. Neckarsulm is the lead plant, with the first cars due to be delivered in the German market during November.
This is the launch vehicle for PPC (Premium Platform Combustion). As per MLB, which it replaces, longitudinally-mounted engines feature. The mid-life facelift is due in the second half of 2028. Production should be wound up in 2031 with no successor. However, build might be extended until 2033-2035 dependent on demand and/or legislation.
In 2025, the RS 5 Avant replaces the RS 4 Avant. While the powertrain isn’t yet confirmed, it is likely to be a PHEV V6. More details are expected to leak in the coming months. Certain other far less powerful plug-in hybrid versions of the A5 hatchback and Avant are also due to debut next year.
One more fresh non-EV is the new Q5 as well as its SQ5 derivative. Revealed in September but not scheduled to be in showrooms until March, this is the second model for PPC. There are mild hybrid petrol and diesel engines with PHEVs to follow. There is as yet no news of a replacement for the Q5 Sportback.
Production of the new Q5, which should endure for eight years with a facelift in 2028, is once again at San José Chiapa in Mexico. Of note, the mild hybrid system has a PTG (powertrain generator) which produces bursts of up to 18 kW and 230 Nm with a 1.7 kWh LFP battery and 48 V electrics. The announced variants are so far:
- 2.0 TFSI, 150 kW (204 PS) and 340 Nm, FWD or AWD
- 2.0 TDI, 150 kW (204 PS) and 400 Nm, AWD
- 2.0 TFSI, 268 hp, AWD (North America)
- 3.0 TFSI, 270 kW and 500 Nm SQ5, AWD (replaces the former SQ5 TDI)
Also fresh in the D segment, the new Q6 L e-tron is soon to be manufactured in Changchun by Audi FAW NEV while the standard wheelbase Q6 e-tron is made in Germany, where the SQ6 is also built. This, the first vehicle for PPE (codeveloped with Porsche, though the Macan was revealed in Jan 2024) has a 94.9/100 (gross) kWh battery, as does the Macan. AWD-only at launch, RWD variants have now debuted too. An RS Q6 e-tron is due in 2026. The life cycle should be seven years, meaning a facelift towards the end of 2028.
E segment
This has already been an especially busy year for new Audis and more are still to come. Already we have the initial details of the A6/S6 e-tron electric hatchbacks, and the A6/S6 Avant e-tron estates. The rear- and all-wheel drive PPE platform, much of the interior and many more things are shared with the equally new Q6 e-tron. There is a 94.9 kWh net/100 kWh gross battery and an output of 270 kW for the A6 e-tron performance. The S6 instead has two motors, AWD and 370 kW (or 405 kW for the S6 with launch control).
There is an 800 V electrical system and charging at up to 270 kW, steel or air suspension, much use of aluminium for multiple body panels and the lowest claimed aerodynamic drag coefficient for any Audi yet. An 83 kWh gross battery will follow in 2025 for cheaper variants: to be called simply A6 e-tron.
Audi of America has revealed its own special car, the A6 e-tron quattro (Sportback only) which will have 422 hp (315 kW). The US line-up is three cars: A6 e-tron, A6 e-tron quattro and S6 e-tron.
The RS 6 e-tron and RS 6 Avant e-tron are to be added during 2025. These will be the first electric RS models. Details remain scarce but power should be close to 500 kW.
While the A6 e-tron series is new, to a lesser extent so too is the e-tron GT, which has just been facelifted. That will mean a second generation coming in 2028, twinned with the next Porsche Taycan. The architecture would therefore be SSP61, a fresh bespoke-electric platform. However, this project is by no means set in stone. Depending on how well high end versions of the new A6 e-tron perform in relevant countries, a successor for the not especially strong selling e-tron GT may yet be cancelled.
Around the same length as the e-tron GT but with a different body entirely, the next Q8 e-tron will likely roll off the production line in 2027. There should also be a successor for the Q8 e-tron Sportback, both set to be manufactured in Mexico rather than Belgium. This is presuming that the historic but troubled Vorst (Forest) factory, officially called Audi Brussels, will have by then been closed.
Jumping back to liquid fuel models, we should be seeing a direct successor for the A7 Sportback and A7 L. The current A7 is a big hatchback and counterpart to the outgoing A6 sedan and wagon. The A7 L is a sedan, specific to China, and effectively a restyled, extended wheelbase A6. The next A7 family is due in 2025 as three cars: an A7 which replaces the A6 sedan, an A7 Avant which succeeds the A6 Avant, and a new A7 L.
There will be no EVs in the A7/S7 model line, just IC engines. The positioning will be perplexing for existing Audi buyers: petrol-powered cars now pricier than EVs? Yes, as in an A6 e-tron is an electric hatchback and the next A7 remains an ICE hatchback.
F segment
The business case for another A8 must be marginal at best, although the current car is at least modestly popular in the Chinese market. If not Europe and North America. Should there be a new A8, or rather an A9 assuming combustion engines rather than motors and a battery, it should arrive in 2029. This would mean a second facelift for the existing car in 2025.
Sportscars & Supercars
Audi is believed to be keen to bring back the TT. This might happen in 2028 as part of a JV with Porsche. The first electric car in the history of the model is said to be pencilled in for 2028 with the caveat that work will not yet have started on such a project. The Porsche-developed platform would be SSP Sport.
What about a new R8? There are intermittent stories of a supercar being in the planning stages but demand for an electric model would be marginal. Audi will surely be looking at different ways of creating a range-topping two-seater and might well go down the PHEV route. In that case, the name would be R9.
New SAIC-Audi JV
A concept preview of the first vehicle for a fresh JV between Audi AG and SAIC will be revealed in November. The partners have done a brilliant job at keeping this entire project relatively secret: only the debut date, architecture name (‘Advanced Digitized Platform’) and Purple, the project code, have leaked. The four-rings badge will not feature, insiders report, suggesting the positioning of future models will be sub-Audi.
As many as nine electric vehicles are said to be planned for Purple, and by 2030 at that. CATL is reported to be the battery supplier. The FAW Audi JV, which produces for example the Q4 e-tron and Q6 e-tron, is unaffected. The locally produced Q5 e-tron, a full-sized electric SUV despite the number in its badging, is an SAIC-Audi vehicle specific to China and not available in Europe.
Source from Just Auto
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