New names for new Audis: German brand tinkers with model range yet again!

Audi has confirmed that it will return to a simpler naming structure for its range this year, dropping its insistence on naming its ICE models with odd numbers and EVs with even. The change reverses the company’s plan to differentiate its vehicles based on their powertrain, and a car’s badge will now instead purely be based on its size and segment. 

This fresh system will kick off with the new Audi A6 on March 4, when the model will be revealed with the same name as its all-electric A6 E-tron sibling. Before now, Audi had been expected to name the ICE-powered A6 the A7, following on from what it had done with the new Audi A5, which replaced the previous-generation A4. 

Marco Schubert, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at Audi, said, “This decision is the result of intensive discussions and also follows the wishes of our customers, as well as feedback from our international dealers. Our nomenclature now provides all customers worldwide with an intuitive orientation in our portfolio. We choose the names of our models in a way that reveals size and positioning at first glance.”

Now, cars featuring an all-electric powertrain will simply utilise the E-Tron moniker to make them stand out from their ICE equivalents. Audi has yet to comment on whether the new A5 will back-track to its A4 moniker, but it does now open the door for Audi to build both ICE and all-electric versions of the same car in future – something that was not previously on the cards.

This will apply to all of Audi’s A models, S models, RS models and Q models in the future, with Sportback, Avant and Allroad variants still signifying a variation of body shape within the main model line-up. 

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