Audi A4 – Look to the Future

The mood in car land has changed rapidly. Manufacturers are almost embarrassed to present models that are not highly electrified or fully electric. The European Union is breathing down manufacturers’ necks and if the Euro 7 emissions standard is introduced around 2025, the fleet average will have to fall further to values ​​that are virtually unattainable without an extensive range of EVs in the program. It is therefore not surprising that more and more car manufacturers, at least for the European market, are setting a fairly concrete deadline for the switch to fully ‘electric’. Audi will end the combustion engine in Europe from 2033 and will only introduce new electric models from 2026. It is now 2022. Given the minimum five-year career of car models, this means that the bulk of the new models we can welcome in the next few years will probably be the last ones equipped with combustion engines.

Finally on the plug

This also applies to the traditional Audi A4. The current B9 generation of the Audi A4 appeared in 2015 and has not only suffered from the BMW 3 series, but for several years also from the electric Tesla Model 3. The model updated in 2019 is now seven years old and so the leaders in Ingolstadt already thought about a new generation. That will be the last traditional one, although it is obvious that Audi will eventually come up with an A4 e-tron.

So no electric Audi A4 yet, because the further developed MLBevo base, on which the new A4 will soon rest, is not suitable for that. However, the electrification of the new generation B10 goes a bit further than with the current A4. That can’t hurt. While the A3, Q3, Q5 and A6 through A8 are available with plug-in hybrid TFSI e-powertrains, the A4 now only comes with a set of mild-hybrid engines. Count on a fleet of plug-in hybrid variants. We will not only encounter this electrical aid in the conventional versions of the A4, the almighty RS4 will also most likely have to deal with it. The 2.9 V6 of the current executioner would remain within the A4 range, but would receive support from an electric motor. That creates a special picture in that segment. The RS4 with V6 will face the V8-equipped BMW M3 and the plug-in hybrid Mercedes-AMG C-class with four-cylinder.

Touch of A6

The RS4 will of course appear again as Avant, the practical station wagon. If we let the imagination run wild, the return of the RS4 Limousine would be a nice answer to BMW, which in turn gives the M3 a station version. Will there be another elevated Allroad? Why not, Mercedes-Benz is once again taking that adventurous path with the C-Class All Terrain. You can even count on a touch of A6 in the A4. Like its bigger brother, the A4 may soon also be available with a co-steering and counter-steering rear axle.

The new A4 Avant you see in these computer drawings is based on the most recent spy photos. Entirely in line with expectations, Audi again opts for the evolution of the well-known design. The design department permanently refers the slots between the hood and the grille to the wastebasket and the Single Frame grille will soon be less high than that of the current model. In addition, flatter headlights should give the A4 a more vicious face. We will probably already know what the new A4 will look like by the end of this year, although we do not expect it to be on the market before 2023.