The all-new Audi SQ5 – Ingolstadt's answer to the BMW X3 M40i – is swiftly approaching a launch in 2024 as the sportiest variant of the totally overhauled Q5 range.
The third-generation version of Audi’s best-selling global model, the Q5, will also be one of the German car maker’s final ICE cars. Before the German firm starts releasing only EVs from 2026, it will launch a new line of combustion engines compliant with the latest Euro 7 emissions regulations.
This is part of a move to continue developing ICE vehicles – both petrol and diesel – alongside EVs “in parallel”, Audi's chief technical officer Oliver Hoffman told Autocar.
“We will bring a completely new family of engines to our PPC [combustion] powertrains - the ICE platform,” he said, stopping short of revealing how closely related these new engines will be to the powerplants currently on sale.
Prototypes of the new Audi Q5 and warmed-up SQ5 are still clad in heavy camouflage, but visible details reveal that the mid-sized crossover will be brought more in line with its newer stablemates, including the electric E-tron models.
The totally overhauled front end resembles a clamshell-style bonnet, a shorter grille, sleek new headlights and new air-intake designs. At the rear, meanwhile, the Q5 looks to have been modelled on the Audi Q4 E-tron, although it's unclear whether a wraparound LED light bar is hiding beneath the wrap.
The success of the Q5 peaked in 2022, with global sales climbing 2.7% to 301,038 representing nearly a fifth of the four-brand Audi Group's total deliveries.
It remains vitally important for the German brand six years on from being launched in its current form.
The next iteration, which is well into testing ahead of an anticipated 2023 unveiling and 2024 market launch, will look to maintain that sales momentum by providing a conventional ICE alternative to the similarly sized Audi Q6 E-tron electric SUV, which will arrive at around the ame time.
Join the debate
Add your comment
I assume then that the A4 will not be replaced by a ICE model, considering the current model was launched way back in 2015 and each new Q5 is normally launched after the A4. Mind you, I don't think the current A4 is a great seller in the UK, unlike the previous B8 model, as I hardly see any on the road.
Yawn Yawn Why do I find Audi utterly boring Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 all the bloody same look ,I find an egg custer has more style Arrrrrr !
Never seen a Q1, as to a Q2 having the same look as a Q5 emmmmm
Surprised its such a best seller, I don't notice many of them here on the road, must be a bigger hit abroad.