Less than two years ago, Audi announced it was renaming its model range to clearly separate full-electric and internal-combustion engine cars, with odd numbers signifying ICE cars and even numbers BEVs.
Now, the Volkswagen group premium brand has reconsidered that idea.
Audi is returning to its old naming convention, with numbers referring to the segment size preceded by the letter A for “low floor,” such as a traditional sedan, and the letter Q for a “high floor,” or SUV.
Within a specific model, “avant” indicates a station wagon and “sportback” a fastback design.
“The previous distinction between electric vehicles and models with combustion engines according to their number no longer applies,” Audi said Feb. 3.
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Powertrains will be identified with “E-tron” for BEVs and engine codes such as TFSI for gasoline and TDI for diesel, with an “e” added for plug-in hybrids.
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For example, the new A6 Avant TFSI is the gasoline-engine version of Audi’s large station wagon, while the A6 Avant E-tron is the BEV version. The A6, which will be launched in early March, will be the first new model to revert to the old system.
“S” and “RS” will still refer to performance variants.
Audi won’t retroactively change names of existing models
Marco Schubert, the Audi board member responsible for sales and marketing, said in a news release on Feb. 3 that the decision was “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,” Schubert said. “We choose the names of our models in a way that reveals size and positioning at first glance.”
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The A5, which does not have a full-electric version. Audi's previous midsize range was called A4. (AUDI)
The change has the potential to increase confusion, however, at least temporarily: Models that received new names in the past two years will not be renamed retroactively, Audi said.
That means that the A5 sedan and A5 Avant, which had been A4 models before, will retain their names, even though the previous A5 was a standalone two-door coupe.
According to Audi’s German website, there are 81 models available, including all variants of body styles, and a single outlier to the naming convention, the E-tron GT, a four-door coupe-style full-electric sedan.
Audi is not the only automaker struggling with how — or even whether — to distinguish EVs and ICE-based models. BMW has mostly settled on “i” plus a number, but it still has the iX large electric SUV in its lineup, alongside the logically named i7.
Mercedes used “EQ” for EVs, but at the moment, some of its EVs such as the EQB compact SUV are derivatives of existing ICE models, while others including the EQE are standalone models.
Among mainstream automakers, VW has regularized its EV names with the ID series, while Renault’s electric models bear their own names and body styles, with no crossover to ICE models.
Segnale pesante ma indiretto di come il radioso futuro elettrico non sia più così roseo. Già alla fine del decennio scorso Audi aveva deciso che le elettriche avrebbero preso il nome delle classiche A4-A6-A8 mentre per una generazione le ICE avrebbero preso i numeri dispari per poi sparire.
Audi ha cancellato queste denominazioni, rimarranno A6 e A8, per distinguere tra ICE e BEV si dovrà guardare alla sigla TFSI oppure Etron.
https://www.quattroruote.it/news/nuovi- ... ra_a6.html