► Meet the first AUDI for China
► Revealed at Auto Shanghai
► Four EV powertrains on offer
Last year Audi revealed AUDI: a joint venture between Audi and SAIC designed solely to keep pace with the trends and demands of the Chinese car market. Now we’ve got at the E5 Sportback, the car that will launch AUDI to the world – but only be sold in China. Revealed over at Auto Shanghai, it’s a handsome electric SUV that bears little resemblance to the Ingolstadt side of the family tree.
‘With our new China-only brand AUDI, we are continuing to push boundaries’ said Gernot Döllner, chairman of the board of management of AUDI AG. ‘The E5 Sportback offers the very best qualities of Audi, reimagined for and tailored to customers in China.’
‘The AUDI E5 Sportback is our first model based on the Advanced Digitized Platform, and it delivers on our brand promise: the best of both worlds,’ said Fermín Soneira CEO of the Audi and SAIC project. ‘Audi’s DNA and engineering excellence is blended with China’s digital ecosystem and innovations, specifically tailored for our tech-savvy customers.’
What is it?
It’s a fastback measuring 4881m long, 1959mm wide and 1478mm tall. Underneath it’ll use AUDI’s (not Audi’s) new modular platform called the Advanced Digitized Platform. Created with China in mind, it offers better scope for over-the-air updates and fits in neatly with the country’s already huge NEV (new energy vehicle) supply chain. As you’d expect, it uses 800-volt circuitry for faster charging, too.
There’ll be a 100kWh batter and four electric powertrains on offer with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, and power levels coming in at 195bhp, 402bhp, 570bhp and a range-topping 776bhp. The flagship motor will hit 0-62mph in just 3.4 seconds while range will stretch up to 478 miles, though this is presumably CLTC – which is all it needs to be given the car is on sale in China only.
Anything else?
The E5 gets all the tech it needs to compete in the incredibly tooled-up Chinese market. With that in mind, it gets all-wheel steering and adaptive air suspension on the handling side but also gets an assisted driving system that includes a LiDAR, three wave radars, twelve ultrasonic sensors, eleven cameras and several multi-modal sensing units.
Inside, you’ll find digital mirrors flanking a huge 27-inch pillar-to-pillar 4K display. Powered by one of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8295 automotive chipsets, it promises to be quick to use – partly because of touch gestures and persistent menu items.
When’s it coming out?
The Audi E5 will enter the market in summer 2025 – once again emphasising the quick pace of the Chinese market – with two more electric AUDI models due in 2026 and 2027.