Audi A4 E-Tron confirmed, first details emerge

AUDI has confirmed its forthcoming A4 E-Tron will become one of the brand’s first volume models to combine the Volkswagen Group’s new SSP platform, a next-generation zonal electronic architecture, and Audi’s incoming ‘Radical Next’ design language.

Speaking with GoAuto at the international preview drive of the next-generation Q7, Audi chief technical officer Rouven Mohr said there was “no need to correct” previously reported 2028 timing for the electric A4 program, which is expected to become one of the brand’s key battery electric models.

A direct rival to the BMW i3 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Electric, the A4 E-Tron is likely to be of interest to Audi Australia as the brand prepares for a tougher premium car environment shaped by the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) and heightened pressure from traditional and newcomer competition.

Dr Mohr confirmed that Audi was utilising its faster, product-focussed “project house” development method first used to rapidly spawn the recent Nuvolari supercar from the Lamborghini Temerario’s platform.

“At the moment, we are working in a similar approach also on the A4 E-Tron,” he told GoAuto.

“You can be sure that the A4 will be one of the first mass, or let me say, bigger volume production cars with (the) Radical Next design, with all of our new philosophies.

“You can be sure that this (will) be a very relevant car that presents the Audi DNA.”

Dr Mohr said this meant the A4 would have “clarity in design, a new interior experience, but also the latest technology,” adding that Audi wanted to restore a “typical Audi feeling that people have always loved from our brand”.

As well as deploying a radically different exterior design to the current combustion and hybrid Audi A5 range, the A4 E-Tron will debut with a new interior concept currently in development at Audi that sees a return to more subtle integration of technology with knobs and buttons.

ICE versions of the A5 are very likely to be renamed ‘A4’ when the BEV version arrives in order to unify the range – and a substantial facelift to bring the two (mechanically unrelated) models visually into line could also occur.

The electric A4 will be the first Audi to unlock the “full potential” of the SSP platform, sources say, including a unified battery pack, zonal electronic architecture, frugal efficiency and considerable range.

Other models will use aspects of the package but the A4 will be the first to do it all.

Audi’s rivals in this space have recently moved the benchmark sharply forward. BMW claims up to 900km range (WLTP) and 400kW DC charging for its i3 sedan, well in excess of the solid 750km (WLTP) of the Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD that is already on sale.

Precise battery size, range and power outputs have not yet been confirmed for the A4 E-Tron, but a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive is expected at various power levels and with at least two battery options.

However, Dr Mohr said that one of the benefits of the “project house” approach was that it allows for fast benchmarking of developments in the competition – but that too much looking over one’s shoulder does not help.

“If you want to beat your competition, you have to know your competition … (but) it would be a mistake if you simply are guided only by looking (at) what is going on outside,” he said.

“You have to look at what is going on outside to have a clear view and to decide your orientation, but the orientation you have to decide on your own.”

To that end, the A4 is very likely to preserve one of Audi’s longest-running signature offerings: a station wagon.

“If you ask me, I fully agree that an Avant is part of the Audi DNA. Audi made, I think, the station wagon cool – we should continue this,” said Dr Mohr.