Our spies have caught the Audi A5 Sportback testing ahead of its expected launch in early 2017.
2017 Audi A5 Sportback and S5 Sportback shown at Paris motor show
The five-door coupé, which will rival the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe when it goes on sale, will be brought into line with the rest of the Audi range, including the Audi A5 Coupé, which we know will go on sale in 2017.
These shots show a ca with a sleeker front-end than before, with the headlights and grille tweaked to fit with the style of the new Audi A4. Slim LED tail lights are also visible through the heavy camouflage cladding, which covers every inch of the car’s bodywork, as well as the rear window.
As with the A5 Coupé which we recently spied, the wheelbase of the A5 Sportback will be longer than before, allowing more interior space for improved practicality. Audi’s Virtual Cockpit instrument panel is a safe bet to appear in the new A5 and A5 Sportback, too, while the rest of the interior is expected to draw heavily from the A4 with which it shares many components.
The same weight-saving measures from the new A4 will be used; a weight saving of 100kg and a switch to the five-link suspension set-up of the A4 will make the A5 Sportback more agile than before.
Engines will be shared with the A4, with turbocharged four-cylinder petrols and 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel units, as well as the V6 engines used in higher-end A4s. A hybrid powertrain with a 1.4 TFSI petrol engine and electric motor – a similar set-up to the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron – is also on the cards.
With the introduction of the A5 Coupé lined up for the start of 2017, the Sportback variant is likely to follow later that year.
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