The Audi A4 will make the switch to an all-electric powertrain, three decades after its introduction, as the Ingolstadt brand gears up to contend with BMW, Mercedes, Tesla and a raft of new disruptors in the crucial electric executive segment.
Due on sale towards the end of 2025, the electric A4 will be sold alongside a new-generation combustion equivalent – evolved from today’s car but wearing the A5 nameplate in line with Audi’s new naming strategy, which allocates even numbers to EVs.
The electric car will be marketed clearly as a stand-alone product, despite its similar footprint and positioning, with a design that closely matches that of the A6 and Q6 E-tron EVs with which it shares Audi’s and Porsche’s new co-developed PPE architecture.
Audi technical boss Oliver Hoffmann has told Autocar that switching to the new platform means the firm’s upcoming EVs “have great proportions, which makes our designers very happy”.
Short overhangs, low-slung bodywork and rakish glasshouses will be defining features of the new E-tron family. This will obviously mark out the A4 E-tron – set to be available in saloon and estate forms – from its more subtly overhauled fuel-burning A5 sibling.
Following in the footsteps of the Q6, which will arrive in early 2024 as the spearhead of Audi’s new line of bespoke EVs, it will bring significant technical advances compared with the marque’s current electric cars. Most notable among these will be a new-generation battery sited between the axles, with a usable capacity of around 100kWh.
Based on the fact that the A4 will be inherently lower, sleeker and lighter than its 373-mile Q6 SUV sibling, it should be good for a maximum range of nearly 400 miles.
Equipped with 800V charging hardware as standard, the A4 E-tron will be able to top up at a maximum 270kW – double the speed of the current, MEB-based Q4 E-tron. This will allow for around 155 miles of range to be added in just 10 minutes.
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Yes, even I will have to admit car design has to move on all the time, we can't live in the good old days of mechanical cars, now we're into EV power, more power instant torque from zero revs, it's even more about where we're sitting what tech is in front of us ,actual driving seems almost secondary,even this is literally getting taken out of our hands, is 500hp enough?, aren't they fast enough now?, this what to expect in one or two years is just the same as keeping what your developing secret, nobody know for sure, it may stay faithful or because new developments come along the car changes, all I know is cars aren't getting cheaper,even the so called less premium brands are getting pricey.
At leastyou understood it Andrew1@
A4-sized electric saloon
Will it be overweight and underdeveloped like its 'flagship' E-Tron SUV as reported recently.