- While Audi plans many new electric models, gas cars will remain for now.
- Cars such as the A4 and A6 will be renamed to match existing odd-numbered models to distinguish them from the even-numbered EV nameplates.
- The TT and R8 sports cars will cease to exist, but the Q5 and Q7 SUVs reach a next generation, and a Q9 could join the lineup.
2023 will be another slow year for Audi – some facelifts and the arrival of the new Q6 e-tron – but 2024 and 2025 will be bumper years for the four rings. A total of 17 and 15 launches are penciled in over two tight twelve month timeframes. While most rivals are putting all their money on EVs, CEO Markus Duesmann and his team will continue to launch new ICE models through the mid and late 2020s, and there is no end in sight to Europe’s announced registration ban for new petrol and diesel engine passenger cars come into operation in 2035.
Let’s take a step-by-step walk through the ICE ranks to see how the lineup will be rearranged. (The EV lineup is a whole other story, but expect the “e-tron” moniker to be dropped entirely and names like E4 and E6 to arrive at some point.) The common platform that underpins all future ICE Audis use is codenamed PPC, short for Premium Platform Combustion. The petrol cars will be renamed to odd numbers to distinguish them from the even numbered EV models.
A4 Becomes A5, A6 Becomes A7
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Audi A5 Avant
Next year, Audi will introduce the A5 sedan and Avant wagon, which used to carry the A4 name. The new A5 Sportback completes the trio. Also due in 2024 is the new A7, again as a sedan and Avant, both of which are currently listed as A6. Confusing? You bet. The A7 Sportback will follow in 2025, along with the second-generation A5 coupe and cabriolet. All of the above is good to go through 2031 and 2032.
SUVs and performance models
Similar lifespans apply to the next Q3 and Q3 Sportback earmarked for 2024, the last-of-its-kind Q5 (2024) and Q5 Sportback (2025), as well as the final Q7 scheduled to bow in mid-2025. Instead of the rumored Q7 Sportback, we could see a softer and more luxurious Q9 worthy of the Horch badge in China.
In addition to the mainstream offerings, PPC will produce a full line of performance hybrid S and RS models that can deliver up to 550 hp in the top-of-the-line A5s and more than 700 hp in the V-6-engined RS7 Performance . will again be available as sedan, wagon and Sportback.
Sports cars say goodbye, A3 sticks around
Two of the brand’s ICE legends are living on borrowed time, the TT and the R8. The TT will be phased out later this year, and there’s no confirmed successor in sight, but if the new regime at Wolfsburg is really serious about the mould-breaking synergy effects, Audi may yet end up with reincarnated versions of the all-electric Porsche 718 replacement next year. Since the charismatic V-10 engine is not suitable for bridging European emission hurdles, the R8 bites the dust next year. Its all-electric replacement, which could potentially find second homes with Bentley and Lamborghini, is expected to use the SSP61 architecture designed in Weissach.
Audi E3
However, the A3 will continue – either until 2026 when its successor will adopt the advanced electric MEB+ platform, or until 2028 when the even more sophisticated SSP3 component kit pioneered by VW becomes available. More sophisticated? The Scalable Systems Platform raises the electrical ante in all major departments from range to charge time to energy density. The next A3 should get the E3 badge, bucking the even number trend.
Contributing Editor
Although I was born the only son of an ornithologist and a postal clerk, it was clear from the start that bird watching and stamp collecting were not my thing. If I had known that God wanted me to grow to 6’8″, I would also have ruled out anything to do with cars, which is to blame for a couple of discs, a torn ligament and that stupid bent back posture the steering While working as a keeper at Aberdeen Zoo, smuggling cheap cigarettes from Yugoslavia to Germany and an embarrassing stint with an amateur drama group also failed to yield fulfillment, he managed and wrote about cars became a much better option. And it still is now. , many years later, as I approach my 70th birthday. I love every aspect of my job except long-haul travel on poor airlines, and I hope it shows.
