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New names coming as Audi confirms mass 20 vehicle roll-out
A4's replacement will be an EV, while the designation itself will feature as successor to the A5 with an internal combustion engine only.
Next generation A4 will become the internal combustion engine only A5. Image: Audi.
Audi has launched the next phase of its product strategy heading towards 2030 by announcing a complete renaming of its models reportedly from this year.
In delivering the Four Rings’ fiscal report findings of 2022, which saw it move 1 614 231 vehicles globally of which 118 196 were electric, CEO Markus Duesmann confirmed that a mass roll-out of 20 new or updated vehicles will be introduced by 2025 with half being EVs.
What will happen
The significance of this will result in the naming restructure in which all even numbered models – 4, 6 and 8 – will become electric while odd-numbered variants – 3, 5 and 7 – will remain internal combustion powered.
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This means that the next generation A4 will become the A5 and the A6 the new A7 with the eventual replacements for the latter pair being unknown.
No details were also provided about the respective “Q” SUV models although chances are that the same logic will be applied as evident by the e-tron becoming the Q8 e-tron last year.
According to comments made in Germany’s AutoBild this past weekend, Duesmann said Ingolstadt won’t follow Mercedes-Benz’s example of dropping the e-tron designation after the three-pointed revealed earlier this year that it will part of the EQ brand as early as 2024.
“At Audi, e-tron stands for 100% electric and is a well-established term. We want to stick to that,” former Audi Sport boss, now Technical Development Head, Oliver Hoffmann, said in the same interview with the German publication.
He added that “many emotional and high-performance derivatives” of the new A5 and A7 will be brought out, but stopped short of confirming any further details.
Understanding the badge
The newly announced renaming comes six years after the introduction of a major nomenclature rebranding in which the engine displacement indicator made way for a two-digit number denoting power outputs, followed by the TFSI, TDI or e-tron suffixes.
A move not universally welcomed , former Audi Head of Sales and Marketing, Dietmar Voggenreiter, said the move had been forthcoming as “engine displacement as a performance attribute is becoming less important to our customers”.
“The clarity and logic of structuring the designations according to power output makes it possible to distinguish between the various performance levels,” Voggenreiter said in a statement at the time.
As a refresher, here is what the current naming structure signifies:
- 30: 81-96 kW
- 35: 110-125 kW
- 40: 125-150 kW
- 45: 169-185 kW
- 50: 210-230 kW
- 60: 320-340 kW
- 70: more than 400 kW
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