New Audi Q5: last with combustion engines – Preview

Opponents of the SUV have it easy in a sense, because it is not difficult to show that a high, heavy car is not the best solution in times of fuel shortages and environmental problems. The fact that a large part of the population has become addicted to such a high model is also apparent from the sales figures.

An additional ‘problem’ – if you want to call it that – is that people who have opted for an SUV usually do not want to go back to a low model. Manufacturers are therefore stuck with this body shape, but at the same time have to pull out all the stops to meet increasingly strict CO2 standards. The main solution is electrification, but we see another trend: SUVs are getting lower. This applies to the new Lexus RX, it concerns the youngest Mercedes-Benz GLC and it will probably also apply to its direct competitor from Audi. We haven’t measured it at this early stage, but spy footage shows a car that looks clearly more stretched than previous generations of the Q5. This makes it almost certainly longer, but probably also slightly lower than before. The rear window is flatter, the overhang at the rear looks a bit larger and the car is lower on its wheels than it is now. Why not, because nobody expects any off-road capability from a model in this segment.

Also as Sportback

What no one expects is that an Audi looks revolutionary different from its predecessor. That is not the case with the Q5 either; yet the new one will soon be distinguishable from the old one at a glance. This is due to the proportions, but also to the layout of the nose and rear. The headlights are placed high in the nose and flattened, partly made possible by LED technology. The grille is flatter and wider and is supported on either side by tall, vertically positioned air intakes. The rear, in turn, is different from now, thanks to the continuous LED light bar that Audi is increasingly using.

Audi Q5

We don’t know officially whether there will be another Q5 Sportback, but that is very obvious. The Sportback version was only added to the range with the current Q5 during the facelift of 2020 and has been quite popular ever since. Now it can be taken into account from the start with this variant, so we expect a Q5 Sportback that looks a bit more graceful and harmonious than the original model.

Lots of plugin

Audi will only introduce fully electric models from 2026, at least in Europe. We already know for sure that the new Q5 will be the last in our continent with combustion engines. It is also electrified, because even more than now, the Q5 range will rely on plug-in hybrids. We expect at least two of them. These are models that go considerably further than the sixty kilometers that now applies to the ‘TFSIe’ versions. That is already a decent value, but Mercedes in particular has raised the bar in this area.

In the Netherlands, but perhaps also elsewhere in Europe, the only choices outside the PHEVs will be the sporty models. An SQ5 will undoubtedly return and once again make the switch from diesel to petrol, whether or not electrified. There has never been an even faster RSQ5 and we have no indication that it will be any different now, although there is certainly a market for such a super SUV and so is the competition.

Under the skin, the Q5 is undoubtedly again based on the A4, but then the next A4. It is therefore again on the MLBevo platform, but on a once again updated and modernized variant.

Q5 and Q6

The Audi Q5 will be unveiled next year, followed by market launch in 2024. The Audi SUV range is not getting any clearer with the arrival of EVs. The brand is also working on a fully electric SUV on the PPE platform developed with Porsche. That model will be called Q6 e-tron and will therefore be just above the Q5, but based on the espionage images, the external differences are minimal. Once everything is replaced by an EV in the years after 2026, the big overlaps should be gone.