The current Audi A4 is no more. Meet the all-new Audi A5 Saloon.
The Ingolstadt-based carmaker has unveiled its new A5 family, which also includes an Avant station wagon, but only the Sedan will be coming to South Africa, with an expected launch date around mid-2025 according to our local contact.
This is not a case of Audi trying to numerically confuse us. In fact the opposite seems true, as in future, all battery-powered Audis will have even numbers in their names while the odd numbers will denote the combustion engined models.
The new A5 Sedan and Avant, along with their S5 variants that were also revealed on Tuesday, are the first Audi products to be underpinned by the new Premium Platform Combustion (PPC).
Despite it being called a Sedan, no doubt in order to foster a sense of familiarity among current A4 saloon owners, the new A5 is actually a five-door hatchback, which makes it similar in concept to the previous A5 Sportback that it will also replace.
The A5’s cabin ushers in the new Audi MMI Panoramic display, which combines an 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster and 14.5-inch central touch screen into a single curved panel with OLED technology. A 10.9-inch screen for the front passenger screen is optionally available.
Audi has also upgraded the configurable head-up display system, which can now be used to control vehicle and infotainment functions.
New mild hybrid tech across the board
Beneath the skin, all of the new A5 models adopt 48V “mild hybrid plus” technology, which is said to deliver substantial CO2 emission and fuel consumption reductions versus conventional mild hybrid (MHEV) systems.
The MHEV plus systems have a powertrain generator (PTG) which can add up to 18kW to the combustion engine’s tally, and to a limited degree it can also power the vehicle on electric energy alone while parking and manoeuvring.
The South African line-up has yet to be determined, but the European range offers a 2.0 TFSI petrol unit in 110kW and 150kW guises and a 2.0 TDI diesel with 150kW and 400Nm. Both are paired with a dual-clutch gearbox as standard and the diesel is optionally available with quattro all-wheel drive.
At the top of the pile, at least until the RS versions appear, is the new S5 featuring a 3.0-litre V6 turbopetrol that’s good for 270kW. The performance model also gets a quattro sort differential with torque vectoring.
Audi says it has extensively improved the chassis and steering on all A5 models, while the optional adaptive damping system offers a greater range between comfort and sporty handling.